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LIBRARY 

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SAN  DIEGO 


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presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
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SAN  DIEGO 

by 


Mr.    0.  McCoy 


DEFENCE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 


OUR  GREAT  COUNTRY  FORETOLD  IN  THE 
HOLY  SCRIPTURES. 

IN    TWO    DISCOURSES. 

DELIVERED 

IN  THE   CAPITOL    OP   THE  UNITED   STATES,  AT  THE    REQUEST  OF 
SEVERAL  MEMBERS  OF  CONGRESS,  ON  THE  ANNIVERSARY 

OF  Washington's  birthday,  1857. 


BY    F.    E.    PITTS 

OF   NASHVILLE,    TENN. 


"  Thou  hast  magnified  thy  word  above  all  thy  name." 

Ps.  cxxxviii,  2. 
Doomed  by  an  edict  written  in  the  sky. 

The  monarchies  of  earth  shall  be  no  more : 
Heaven's  sealed  wonders  open  to  the  eye 
In  rising  glories  on  the  western  shore. 


BALTIMORE: 
PUBLISHED   BY   J.  W.   BULL, 

PROPRIETOR   OF   COPY    RIGHT. 
1869. 

T.  NEWTON  KURTZ, 

N0.1 51  We  ST  Prat  t  S  t. 

BALTIMOK.E. 


Entered,  according  lo  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 

F.  E.  PITTS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Middle  District  of  Tennessee. 


Sherwood  &  Co.,  Prs. 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  PUBLIC. 


The  theory  of  Armageddon,  by  the  Rev.  F.  E.  Pitts, 
has  been  in  course  of  preparation  for  years.  Immense  re- 
search and  mental  labor  have  brought  it  into  being.  For 
nearly  two  years  it  has  been  before  the  public  and  met  the 
favorable  notice  of  many  of  the  ablest  journals  and  reviews 
in  America.  Learned  theologians,  civilians  and  statesmen 
have  freely  accredited  its  truthfulness,  and  mathematicians 
pronounce  its  chronological  argument  demonstration.  In- 
deed, almost  all  who  examine  it  believe  it.  The  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  are  generally  found  amongst  the  subjects 
of  the  British  Crown,  or  those  who  iraasrine  that  Ensiland, 
par  excellence,  is  the  raoJel  of  the  nations. 

Having  learned  that  Armageddon  leaves  the  autocracy  of 
Britain  in  the  whirlpool  too,  they  have  become  offended, 
and  of  course  denounce  it. 

Mr.  Pitts  believing  most  firmly  the  principles  and  posi- 
tions of  the  theory  to  be  true,  and  that  a  correct  apprecia- 
tion of  the  subject  is  of  untold  interest  to  the  American 
people,  he  has,  from  motives  sincerely  patriotic  and  pious, 
discussed  the  claims  of  this  sublime  theory  before  thousands 
of  our  countrymen  in  various  portions  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Pitts  certainly  deserves  the  highest  praise  of  his 
countrymen.     Modest  and  unassuming,  though  a  giant  in 


IV  REMARKS. 


intellect,  and  richly  stored  with  the  treasures  of  science,  he 
has  brought  out  a  work  that  must  elevate  and  encourage 
our  noble  confederacy  more  effectually  than  any  book  that 
has  appeared  since  the  birth  of  the  Republic. 

The  work  has  now  passed  into  the  fourth  edition,  and 
will,  we  have  no  doubt,  soon  be  issued  by  the  hundred 
thousand.  This  book  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
American  citizen,  because  of  the  advance  that  it  will  give  to 
true  patriotism,  and  the  enthusiasm  that  it  has  and  necessa- 
rily will  create  for  the  Union. 


NOTICE. 

FROM  THE   NATIONAL  INTELLIGENCER, 

February   24,    18  5  7. 


Services  at  the  Capitol. — In  place  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Waldo,  Chaplain  of  the  House,  Rev.  F.  E.  Pitts,  of  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  appeared  agreeably  to  previous  announce- 
ment, and  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  fulfilment  of  pro- 
phecy, with  reference  to  the  United  States.  With  no 
leaning  to  cant  or  fanaticism,  and  with  no  tendencies  to  a 
politico-religious  sermon,  the  reverend  speaker  entered 
upon  his  task  of  unfolding  the  prophecies,  both  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments.  The  events  which  he  detailed  with 
reference  to  our  own  country,  were  made  to  fit  with  such 
surprising  chronological  accuracy  to  the  predictions,  that 
it  was  by  the  almost  unanimous  desire  of  a  large  and  atten- 
tive audience  that  his  lecture  was  continued  in  the  after- 
noon. At  the  appointed  time,  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  it  was 
no  easy  task  to  find  a  seat  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Capitol, 
so  deeply  interested  were  the  people  to  hear  the  sequel  of 
the  morning  discourse,  a  brief  outline  of  which  we  are 
herewith  enabled  to  present  to  our  readers : 

His  introduction  to  the  investigation  indicated  with  what 
reverence  and  discretion  any  attempted  elucidation  of  the 
meaning  of  prophecy  should  be  conducted  ;  that  the  pro- 
phecies touching  the  nations,  down  to  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, 
were  but  a  literal  history  of  Syria,  Edom,  Moab,  Egypt, 
and  Judea ;  but  from  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  capital 
down  to  a  certain  period  called  "  the  time  of  the  end,"  a 
vail  was  on  the  prophets,  and  no  interpretation  of  the  sub- 
lime visions  during  that  interdicted  age  could  possibly  be 
correct ;  for  God  had  repeated  the  announcement  to  Daniel, 
the  prophet,  that  "the  words  were  closed  up,  and  the 
vision  was  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end."     That  this  was 


VI  NOTICE. 

not  the  end  of  the  world  was  evident,  for  in  the  time  of  the 
end  "  many  should  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  be  in- 
creased;"  that  then  "  the  wise  should  understand,  but  the 
especially  the  theatre  of  these  wonders,  or  the  land  of  their 
realization,  should  be  unknown  till  God  was  prepared  for 
their  accomplishment.  That  "the  time  of  the  end  " — an 
age  of  great  intellectual  energy,  adventure  and  locomotion 
— was  the  age  in  which  a  great  nationality  would  arise  ; 
that  the  United  States  arose  at  the  end  of  1290  symbolic 
days  from  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  that  Daniel's  70 
weeks  being  equal  to  603  years  and  129  days  of  solar  time, 
according  to  the  eclipses  of  the  sun,  gave  an  infallible  rule 
to  determine  symbolic  time  ;  so  that  if  70  symbolic  weeks 
equaled  600  years  and  129  days,  1290  symbolic  days 
reached  from  the  burning  of  the  temple  on  the  189th  day 
of  the  year  68,  A.  D.,  to  the  4th  of  July,  1776  ;  and  that, 
making  the  starting-point  at  the  occasion  of  the  daily  sacri- 
fice, which  happened,  according  to  astronomy,  at  sunrise, 
three  minutes  past  five  o'clock,  A.  M.,  on  the  day  the  tem- 
ple was  burnt,  the  1290  days  run  out  at  a  quarter  to  three 
o'clock,  P.  M.,  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1776;  and,  from 
the  best  sources  of  information,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  proclaimed  at  that  hour  on  the  glorious 
Fourth.  That  the  United  States  was  the  fifth  Government 
represented  by  the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 
hands.  The  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar  represented  the 
successive  kingdoms  of  Assyria,  Medo-Persia,  Macedonia, 
and  Rome ;  that  the  iron  and  clay  in  the  feet  and  toes  of 
the  image,  symbolized  the  union  of  Church  and  State  under 
Constantine,  June  19,  A.  D.  325;  that  the  antagonism  of 
the  stone  to  the  image  smiting  it  on  the  feet,  symbolized 
the  genius  of  our  great  nation  in  its  opposition  to  the  union 
of  Church  and  State;  that  while  the  stone-kingdom,  or 
government,  were  not  Christianity,  the  mountain  out  of 
which  the  stone  was  cut  ivas  Christianity.  That  the  winged 
woman  of  the  wilderness  was  an  emblem  of  Christianity, 
and  her  man-child,  to  whom  was  given  "a  rod  to  rule," 
was  an  emblem  of  our  government,  arising  from  a  pure 
religion;  that  this  man-child,  being  "  caught  up  to  heaven 
in  the  clouds,"  showed  the  providential  protection  of  our 


NOTICE.  Vll 

wicked  should  not  understand."  Not  only  was  the  vision 
itself  sealed,  but  the  time  or  end  of  these  wonders,  and 
infant  Republic.  That  our  nation,  answering  the  moral 
portrait  of  the  nationality  which  was  to  come,  was  Israel 
restored.  That  God  would  constitute  such  a  nationality 
out  of  a  people  who  would  acknowledge  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  and  not  of  the  Jews,  who,  from  the  beginning, 
have  denounced  Christ.  That  perfect  coincidence  being 
perfect  fulfilment,  our  nation  and  no  other  on  earth  an- 
swered the  picture.  That  the  nationality  to  arise  was  to  be 
gathered  out  of  the  nations.  That  they  were  to  go  west- 
ward. That  the  country  they  were  to  inhabit  was  a  land 
between  the  eastern  and  the  great  western  seas.  That  the 
land  was  one  "that  had  always  been  waste."  That  it  was 
to  be  located  in  thirteen  distinct  States.  That  these  States 
should  be  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  eastern  sea,  and  on 
the  west  by  the  great  western  sea.  That  the  people  gath- 
ered out  of  the  nations  should  ' '  build  and  dwell  safely  in 
unwalled  villages  and  cities,  having  neither  gates  nor  bars  ;" 
' '  a  land  of  broad  rivers  and  streams ;"  a  Republic  where 
the  people  "should  appoint  to  themselves  one  head,"  and 
their  rulers  and  governors  ' '  should  be  from  among  them- 
selves." That  the  United  States  was  "  the  isles  that  should 
wait"  for  God,  and  that  the  ships  of  Tarshish  or  Old  Spain 
should  be  first  to  open  emigration.  That  our  country  was 
"the  land  shadowing  with  wings"  which  was  beyond  the 
rivers  of  Ethiopia,  which,  from  Judea  beyond  the  Nile,  was  the 
United  States,  and  no  other  country.  That  our  great 
country  was  divinely  protected  in  its  beginning,  and,  an- 
swering the  predictions  precisely  of  the  nationality  that  was 
to  come,  is  the  "nation  born  to  God  in  a  day" — born  on 
Independence  Day.  That  the  United  States  arose  in  the 
providence  of  God,  as  the  model  political  government;  and 
that  its  great  mission  was  the  overthrow  of  monarchy,  and 
the  utter  destruction  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  despotism. 
His  subject  in  the  afternoon  related  more  especially  to 
"  the  last  great  battle  between  civil  and  religious  liberty  on 
the  one  hand,  and  political  and  ecclesiastical  despotism  on  the 
other,  termed  in  Scripture  the  "  Battle  of  Gog  and  Magog  ;" 
the  battle  of  "  Armageddon,"  and  the  battle  of  the  "  great 


Vlll  NOTICE. 

day  of  God  Almighty."  That  the  United  States  would  be 
invaded  by  monarchy.  That  Russia  would  be  the  leading 
power,  and  England,  and  all  the  autocracy  of  the  world, 
would  be  allied  with  Russia  against  the  United  States,  ex- 
cept France ;  that  France  would  be  with  us  in  the  end  as 
she  was  with  us  in  the  beginning.  That  an  armament 
such  as  the  world  never  saw,  composed  of  millions,  would 
invade  our  country.  That  the  battle-field  was  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi.  (See  Ezekiel  xxxis,  11.)  That  Heaven 
would  be  upon  our  side.  But  in  this  last  dreadful  fray 
there  would  be  trouble  such  as  never  was.  That  the  United 
States,  being  the  exponent  and  representative  of  Repub- 
licanism, extending  its  borders  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from 
the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  arose  as  the  formidable  defiance  of 
autocracy;  and  that  Russia,  embracing  an  area  of  one-sev- 
enth of  the  earth's  terra-firma,  and  arising  in  dreadful 
grandeur,  must,  in  self-defence,  attempt  the  extinction  of 
popular  freedom  ;  and  that  these  two  formidable  powers, 
lowering  and  culminating  to  the  heavens  like  dreadful 
clouds  surcharged  with  the  elements  of  ruin,  would  shock 
the  world  with  their  collision  and  drench  the  earth  with 
blood.  That  our  great  country  would  never  he  divided. 
That  our  Union,  like  a  noble  ship,  though  her  live-oak 
timbers  would  bend  and  quiver  in  the  tempest,  would  ride 
the  storm  in  safety.  That  monarchy  would  be  overthrown 
for  ever,  and  Republicanism  every  where  prevail,  and  na- 
tions learn  war  no  more.  Then  sets  in  that  millennial  day, 
when  science,  commerce,  manufactures  and  the  arts  would 
spread,  the  religion  of  the  Son  of  Grod  have  sway,  "  right- 
eousness and  peace  among  the  people  walk,  Messiah  reign, 
and  earth  keep  jubilee  a  thousand  years." 

But  an  imperfect  sketch  of  these  lectures  is  here  pre- 
sented. They  certainly  created  a  profound  sensation. 
True  or  false,  the  clearness  and  conclusiveness  of  the  argu- 
ments, as  presented  by  the  intelligent  speaker,  we  think  it 
would  be  diflicult  to  answer.  Surely,  the  theme  is  startling 
and  sublime.  The  appropriate  allusion  of  the  speaker  to 
the  portraits  of  Washington  and  Lafayette  that  hung  on  the 
walls  in  the  Capitol,  in  his  allusion  to  France  being  with 
America  in  the  final  struggle,  was  deeply  affecting. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

FORETOLD  IN  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES. 


In  entering  the  sublime  arcana  of  inspired  pro- 
phecy, we  are  deeply  impressed  with  a  scene  that 
is  laid  in  the  land  of  Midian,  where,  from  the 
burning-bush,  the  voice  of  Almighty  God  arrested 
the  attention  of  the  wondering  prophet:  "Put  off 
thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;  for  the  place  whereon 
thou  standest  is  holy  ground." 

No  subject  presented  to  the  human  mind  imposes 
profounder  reverence,  greater  caution,  and  deeper 
research,  than  an  elucidation  of  prophetic  truth  ; 
and  yet  no  theme  has  been  more  prolific  of  fanati- 
cism among  the  incautious  and  adventurous  in 
almost  every  age. 

We  must  look  to  the  Scriptures  themselves  for 
direction  to  a  true  and  legitimate  interpretation  of 
their  own  meaning.  It  is  important  also  to  dis- 
criminate between  "  secret  things  that  belong  to 
God,  and  things  that  are  revealed,  which  belong  to 
2 


10  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

US  and  to  our  cliildren."  For  want  of  this  discern- 
ment, Millerism,  and  all  that  class  of  fanatical  fan- 
cies, have  deluded  misguided  thousands.  When- 
ever, therefore,  an  interpreter  of  prophecy  attempts 
to  tell  when  the  day  of  judgment  will  come,  just 
rest  assured  he  is  wise  above  what  is  written  ;  for 
we  are  taught  by  the  Great  Prophet  himself,  "Of 
that  day,  and  hour,  knoweth  no  man  ;  no,  not  the 
angels  of  heaven,  but  my  Father  only."  This  Di- 
vine announcement  should  always  quiet  such  un- 
authorized pretensions. 

It  must  be  universally  conceded  that  the  Al- 
mighty has  interdicted  a  knowledge  of  some  sub- 
lime subjects^  which  he  alone  will  fully  reveal  and 
explain  by  their  own  accomplishment.  Notwith- 
standing, it  is  equally  evident  that  there  are  cer- 
tain portions  of  prophetic  truth  that  he  himself  de- 
signed should  be  understood  by  the  sons  of  men, 
for  it  is  written,  "Blessed  is  he  that  readeth  and 
they  that  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy."  Here, 
then,  is  a  Divine  encouragement  to  study  inspired 
prophecy.  But  how  can  we  be  beneficiaries  of  this 
promise,  though  we  may  both  read  and  hear,  if,  at 
the  same  time,  we  cannot  understand  them? 

A  few  self-evident  propositions  we  will  now  sub- 
mit, as  indispensable  principles  for  the  investigation 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  11 

of  propliecy — principles  that  must  form  the  only 
true  and  infallible  criteria  to  determine  their  in- 
tended meaning. 

First.  All  prophecy  is  either  plain  and  literal^  or 
obscure  and  symbolical. 

Second.  A  plain  and  literal  prophecy  may  be  un- 
derstood prior  to  fulfilment,  just  as  avcU  as  subse- 
quent to  the  event  predicted.  For  example,  Jesus 
Christ  said,  ''  There  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone 
upon  another  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 
His  meaning  was  too  obvious  to  be  misunder- 
stood. 

Third.  But  an  obscure  or  symbolic  prophecy  cannot 
possibly  be  fully  knoion,  however  impressive  the  gen- 
eral outline  of  the  subject ;  yet  the  special  applica- 
tion of  the  prediction  to  time,  event,  and  circum- 
stances cannot  be  understood  until  fulfilment  settles 
the  true  meaning.  There  may  be  several  interpre- 
tations of  an  obscure  prophecy  oiFered  a  priori,  pro- 
vided they  be  legitimate  ;  that  is,  if  such  defini- 
tions are  not  unreasonable  or  incompatible  with  the 
nature  of  the  subject.  Nevertheless,  we  must  bide 
our  time  till  fulfilment  determines  the  meaning  in- 
tended. As  an  example,  it  is  written,  ''  Behold,  I 
will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  coming 
of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord."    Now, 


12  DEFENCE    OF    ARxMAGEDDON. 

it  is  evident  that  one  legitimate  interpretation  of 
this  prophecy  was  the  same  entertained  by  the 
Jews,  that  God  would  send  the  old  prophet  in  per- 
son, for  it  ex23ressly  states,  "  Elijah  the  prophet." 
But  it  so  happened  that  another  man  altogether, 
John  the  Baptist,  coming  "  in  the  spirit  and  power 
of  Elias,"  is  said  by  Christ  to  he  "  the  Elias  which 
was  for  to  come." 

Fourth.  A  perfect  coincidence  of  character,  cir- 
cumstances^ and  events  with  any  given  prophecy,  is 
perfect  fulfilment.  This  is  so  plain  and  patent  that 
we  cannot  deny  it  without  denying  the  very  proof 
of  the  Messiahship  of  the  Son  of  God.  When  John 
sent  his  disciples  to  Christ  to  inquire,  "Art  thou 
he  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?" 
"Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Go  and  show 
John  again  those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see  : 
the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk, 
and  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the 
dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel 
preached  unto  them."  As  much  as  if  he  had  said, 
John  will  have  sense  enough  to  know  that  in 
whomsoever  these  coincidences  are  found,  he  is  the 
Messiah. 

With  these  princij)les  to  guide  us,  we  proceed  to 
the  investigation  of  our  subject. 


DEFENCE     OF    ARMAGEDDON.  13 

The  United  States  of  America^  our  great  country , 
is  foretold  in  the  Hohj  Scriptures. 

We  are  fully  apprised  that  the  novelty  and  sub- 
limity of  our  subject,  upon  its  bare  announcement, 
will  awaken  the  incredulity  of  some,  and  enlist  the 
opposition  of  others.  To  all  such  we  politely  be- 
speak the  courtesy  of  a  candid  hearing.  We  are 
not  concerned  that  you  receive  or  reject  the  truth  of 
this  theory,  but  we  are  concerned  that  you  carefully 
examine  the  testimony  upon  which  it  rests.  Do 
you  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  ?  ' '  Then  hear  me 
for  my  cause." 

But  that  you  may  understand  that  we  do  not 
attempt  to  prove  what  is  unreasonable  and  absurd, 
we  propose  the  following  question  : 

Is  it  at  all  probable  that  our  great  country,  with 
its  teeming  magnificence,  now  the  fear  and  glory 
of  all  lands,  looidd  have  been  overlooked  hy  pr:>phecy  ? 
How  comes  it  to  pass  that  smaller  countries,  and 
lesser  kingdoms,  retired  hamlets,  solitary  islands, 
and  seaport  towns  ;  that  Edom,  Moab,  Egypt,  and 
Syria ;  that  Tarshish,  Tyre,  and  Sidon,  with  the 
rest,  are  particularly  programmed  upon  the  inspired 
page,  and  our  land  the  only  portion  of  God's  te^n^a- 
Jirma  that  is  proscribed  a  place  in  the  book — that 
prophetic  book  that  professes  to  map  the  world  till 
2* 


14  DEFENCE     OF     ARMAGEDDON. 

the  end  of  time?  Has  the  inspired  penman  no  ac- 
count, no  place  for  a  nation  that  is  at  this  very 
moment  telling  more  upon  the  intellectual  and 
moral  destiny  of  the  world  than  any  other  under 
heaven  ?  Do  you  helieve  it  ?  And  yet  you  must 
believe  it  if  bur  theory  is  a  fable. 

The  possibility  of  the  truthfulness  of  our  subject 
is  certainly  deeply  interesting  ;  the  probability  of 
the  fact  is  startling ;  but  the  clear  and  unanswera- 
ble demonstration  of  that  truth  is  actually  sublime. 

The  predictions  of  the  Bible  touching  the  na- 
tions, down  to  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  capi- 
tal, are  indeed  but  a  literal  history  of  Egypt,  Moab, 
Syria,  Edom,  and  Judea.  Here  all  is  plain  and 
self-evident,  as  time  has  witnessed  the  fulfilment. 
But  from  that  memorable  event,  the  downfall  of 
Jerusalem,  on  to  a  certain  chronological  period, 
called  by  Daniel  "  the  time  of  the  end,"  all  is  obscu- 
rity. No  interpretation  breaks  the  seal  of  its  won- 
ders. Clouds  curtain  the  heavens  ;  and  the  symbols 
that  glow  in  the  vision  of  God's  holy  prophets  are 
alike  mysterious  to  them  and  to  the  wondering 
seraphim. 

To  Daniel,  the  prince  of  the  prophets,  this  great 
truth  seemed  first  to  have  been  announced.  When 
the  prophet  had  the  stupendous  visions  covering 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  15 

that  symbolic  period,  he  exclaimed  :  "I  heard,  hut 
I  understood  not :  then  said  I,  0  my  Lord^  what 
shall  he  the  end  of  these  wonders  ?  And  he  said, 
Go  thy  way,  Daniel ;  for  the  words  are  closed  up 
and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end."  This  positive 
declaration  of  Jehovah  was  thrice  repeated  to  the 
prophet.  But  Gabriel  gives  him  to  understand  per- 
sonally thus  much  :  These  wonders  will  not  occur 
in  your  day,  Daniel ;  you  will  rest  with  your  fath- 
ers long  before  the  seal  shall  be  broken  ;  neverthe- 
less, you  will  arise  in  the  resurrection  of  the  just ; 
therefore,  go  thy  way,  and  be  comforted  with  the 
blessed  hope.  Such  we  suppose  to  be  the  meaning 
of  the  angel,  when,  closing  his  sublime  mission  to 
the  prophet,  he  said,  ''But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the 
end  be  :  for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in  thy  lot  in 
the  end  of  the  days." 

That  the  time  of  the  end  was  a  certain  chronological 
length,  and  not  the  end  of  the  world,  is  very  certain, 
for  things  are  said  of  the  time  of  the  end  not  at  all 
consistent  with  the  scriptural  account  of  the  day  of 
judgment.  In  the  time  of  the  end  "  many  should 
run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  be  increased;"  then 
''  the  wise  should  understand,  but  none  of  the  wick- 
ed should  understand."  Whereas,  in  the  final  day, 
we  suppose  the  wise  and  the  wicked  will  both  un- 


16  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

derstand.  These  expressions  evidently  characterize 
that  period  called  the  time  of  the  end,  as  an  age  of 
great  locomotion,  intelligence,  and  enterprise. 
And  the  words  "  wise  "  and  "  wicked,"  being  gen- 
eric terms,  and  nouns  of  multitude,  doubtless  refer  to 
nations.  The  friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty- 
shall  understand,  but  subjects  of  absolutism,  and 
the  dupes  of  despotism,  shall  not  understand. 

As  the  visions  of  Daniel,  that  covered  the  lapse 
of  ages  to  the  time  of  tlie  end,  were  sealed  and  closed 
up,  it  is  conclusive  that  the  visions  of  Isaiah  and 
Ezekiel,  Jeremiah  and  John,  embracing  the  same 
subjects  and  measuring  the  same  period,  are  inter- 
dicted also.  This  is  a  legitimate  and  necessary 
deduction. 

Now,  is  it  not  very  surprising  that  eminent  men, 
deeply  pious  and  profoundly  learned,  have  never 
discovered  the  "seal"  of  the  Divine  interdiction 
placed  upon  these  visions  ?  The  impenetrable  mys- 
tery, by  Divine  authority,  hangs  before  their  eyes, 
while  the  vague  and  unsatisfactory  explanations  of 
the  most  gifted  commentators  confirm  the  truth  of 
the  Divine  prohibition.  The  truth  is,  there  is  not 
one  writer  in  the  long  learned  catalogue  of  com- 
mentators on  the  prophecies,  down  to  our  present 
theory,  but  has  attempted  to  explain  the  meaning 


DEFENCE    OF    AKMAGEDDON.  17 

of  these  symbols  by  principles  and  rules  tbat  were 
known  and  applied  during  the  interdicted  ages,  and 
are  consequently  necessarily  erroneous ;  for  God  bad 
again  and  again  declared,  "  the  vision  is  sealed^  and 
the  luords  are  closed  up  till  the  time  of  the  end.'' 

Two  obvious  truths  are  here  revealed:  1.  The 
closing  up  of  the  vision  down  to  a  certain  period. 
2.  As  the  sealing  of  the  vision  was  only  till  that 
time,  of  course  when  that  time  should  come  the 
seal  would  be  broken  and  the  vision  be  understood. 

If,  therefore,  the  period  when  these  sublime  dis- 
closures should  be  made  was  to  be  characterized  as 
an  age  of  vast  enterprise,  intellectual  energy,  and 
moral  adventure  ;  and  if  we  live  in  such  an  age — 
an  age  marked  with  unparalleled  progress  and  dis- 
covery— we  ask,  with  the  profoundest  reverence, 
may  we  not  venture  to  inquire,  and  to  inquire  hope- 
fully, for  the  meaning  of  these  wonders  ? 

Should  it  be  demanded,  why  have  not  the  erudite 
and  the  learned  in  ages  past  apprehended  this  in- 
terpretation of  prophecy,  we  have  already  anticipa- 
ted the  inquiry  :  that  God  had  sealed  a  knowledge 
of  these  wonders  during  those  ages.  But  should 
the  unassuming  pretensions  of  the  learned  author 
of  Armageddon  be  looked  upon  as  a  barrier  to  a 
candid  investigation  of  this  most  deeply  interesting 


18  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

theory,  we  have  only  to  suggest  that  great  and  in- 
genuous minds  are  too  magnanimous  for  such  un- 
candid  evasion.  As  the  gifted  author  himself  has 
asked,  "May  not  a  child  find  a  gem?"  Was  it  not 
a  poor  peon  of  the  mountains  that  first  discovered 
the  riches  of  Peru  ?  But  perhaps  one  material  rea- 
son why  our  great  country  has  hitherto  never  heen 
dreamed  of  as  the  burden  of  prophetic  truth,  has 
heen  owing  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  principal 
writers  on  prophecy  have  heen  Englishmen,  who, 
putting  one  foot  of  the  compasses  down  on  Great 
Britain  as  the  centre  of  creation,  and  describing  a 
circle,  have  invariably  left  out  the  United  States  of 
America  ;  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  a  Chinese 
map  of  the  world,  which,  after  giving  to  the  Celes- 
tial Empire  almost  the  entire  map,  puts  down  Eu- 
rope and  America  on  a  space  no  larger  than  a  pen- 
ny, calling  them  the  "  Barbarian  Islands." 

We  will  certainly  be  excused  for  disposing  of 
another  class  of  captious  cavilers.  It  has  been 
asked  with  much  emphasis,  "  What  good,  or  what 
purpose,  could  the  truth  of  such  a  theory  accom- 
plish?" This  inquiry,  we  will  apprise  you,  is 
never  made  by  the  learned  or  the  considerate  ;  cer- 
tainly not  by  one  who  reveres  the  truth  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  19 

What  is  the  design  of  prophecy  ?  Surely,  wise 
and  glorious  accomplishments  were  intended  by  the 
Almighty  in  communicating  to  his  servants  the 
words  and  visions  of  prophecy.  Doubtless,  to  in- 
spire the  hope  of  man  for  their  realization,  and  to 
confirm  the  faith  of  mortals  in  the  divinity  of  those 
truths  by  their  fulfilment.  But  where  will  you  find 
a  broader  field  for  such  accomplishments,  or  a  more 
glorious  theatre  for  the  fulfilment  of  prophetic 
truth,  than  in  the  providential  rise  and  prosi^erity 
of  a  great  nation  that  should  be  the  exponent  and 
example  of  popular  freedom — a  nation  whose  prin- 
ciples and  progress  should  excite  the  admiration 
and  arouse  the  emulation  of  the  whole  earth?  Let 
men  but  behold,  on  this  magnificent  scale,  a  fulfil- 
ment of  those  sublime  symbols  and  announcements 
that  have  staggered  the  philosophy  of  men,  and 
baffled  their  profoundest  learning  from  age  to  age  ; 
then  indeed  infidelity  would  seek  annihilation  for 
shelter,  and  its  last  refuge  of  lies  be  swept  from 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

We  shall  first  consider  the  symbolic  predictions  of 
the  United  States. 


20  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

THE    TIME    OF    ITS    RISE. 

The  rise  of  a  great  nationality  is  evidently  pre- 
dicted by  Daniel,  when  "  the  power  of  the  holy  peo- 
ple," or  friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  shall 
cease  to  he  scattei'ed ;  when  the  wise  nations  should 
understand,  and  "  many  should  run  to  and  fro,  and 
knowledge  be  increased."  This  glorious  era  was 
to  be  the  period  called  '^^the  time  of  the  end." 
The  rise  of  the  United  States  of  America  synchro- 
nizes with  that  "  time,"  and  no  other  nation  under 
heaven. 

The  chronological  argument  is  purely  mathemat- 
ical, and  we  believe  unanswerable. 

The  decree  of  Cyrus  for  the  emancipation  of 
Israel  was  published  in  the  last  month  of  the  year 
537  B.  C,  (about  December  6th,)  as  is  found  by 
the  coincidence  of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  predicted 
by  Thales  the  MilesiaU;,  that  occurred  B.  C.  601, 
as  well  as  the  historic  account  of  those  ages.  The 
crucifixion  of  Christ  was  on  the  25th  of  March, 
A.  D.  29,  {Vulgar  era,)  as  found  also  by  an  eclipse 
of  the  moon  and  historic  records.  And  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Jewish  state  began  on  the  21st  of  Nisan, 
A.  D.  68.  The  70  weeks  of  Daniel  were  to  begin 
at  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  and  to  end  at  both  the  other 


DRFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  21 

named  epochs.  From  the  decree  of  Cyrus  to  the 
crucifixion^  was  564  years  and  109  days  ;  and  from 
the  same  decree  to  the  last  general  Jewish  j)assover, 
was  603  years  and  129  days.  These  two  lengths 
were  embraced  in  the  70  weeks,  and  show  the  pre- 
cise duration  of  those  weeks,  as  exactly  those  many 
years  and  days  transpired  to  reach  the  events  pre- 
dicted. This  fact  no  one  can  deny.  Now  the  ex- 
planation of  the  matter  is  simple :  the  70  weeks  are 
Hebrew  weeks  of  years,  or  490  years.  But  these 
are  abbreviated  iveeks  ;  that  is,  tliey  require  the  ad- 
dition of  one  or  more  kinds  of  sacred  time  to  com- 
plete them.  By  adding  the  sabbatic  days  which 
would  be  in  490  years,  we  have  560  years.  These 
are  symbolic  years  of  360  parts;  and  as  a  symbolic 
year  may  stand  for  any  Hebrew  year  of  years,  it 
may  stand  for  the  one  of  364.  Then  we  have  the 
equation  of  time,  as  360  :  364=560  :  566f. 

These  5661  years  are  composed  of  364  days  each; 
and  by  reducing  them  to  solar  time  of  365  days,  5 
hours,  48  minutes,  and  47to-  seconds  to  the  year^ 
we  have  564  years  and  109  days,  as  the  fulfilment 
exhibits. 

In  a  similar  manner  the    other  results  will  be 
found  ;  but  this  example  is  a  sufficient  illustration 
of  the  principle  of  explaining  sacred  time. 
3 


22  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

The  3^  times  of  Daniel,  chapter  xii,  are,  by  this 
mode  of  explanation,  easily  understood.  Three  and 
a  half  times,  or  years,  are  equal  to  12fi0  symbolic 
years.  To  this,  if  we  add  sabbatic  years  propor- 
tionably,  we  have  1440  years;  and  again  adding 
proportionable  sabbatic  years,  or  one  to  every  six, 
we  have  1680  years.  Then,  as  the  symbolic  year 
of  360  parts  may  represent  any  Hebrew  year,  it  may 
represent  the  year  366  days  or  parts.  We  then 
have  the  following  equation  : 

360  :  366x1680=1708  years,  or  623,833  days,  17 
hours,  1  minute,  and  40  seconds. 

These  3^  times  were  to  begin  at  the  cessation  of 
the  daily  sacrifice.  The  daily  sacrifice  was  offered 
at  sunrise.  The  sun  arose  at  the  meridian  of  Old 
Jerusalem  on  the  189th  day  of  the  year  68,  A.  D., 
about  5  o'clock,  A.  M.  This,  then,  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  3^  times,  or  the  1260  symbolic  days,  or 
the  2300  "evening  mornings."  An  ''evening 
morning"  was  a  lamb  sacrifice  at  sunrise,  and  a 
lamb  sacrifice  at  sunset — two  lambs  to  a  day  ;  so 
2300  are  equal  to  1150  days  ;  add  the  proportion  of 
sabbatic  time,  and  2300  evening  mornings  equal  3^ 
times.  These  lengths  all  agree,  and  embrace,  in 
solar  time,  623,833  days  and  17  hours  ;  and,  from 
the  last  Jewish  sacrifice,  end,  at  the  meridian  of 


DEFENCE   OFAKMAGEDBON.  23 

Philadelphia,  at  a  quarter  to  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  July  the  4th,  1*776, 

Another  length  of  these  times  is  1335  days, 
which,  by  the  same  rule,  equal  1810  solar  years, 
and  will  end  in  1878.  These  two  endings  begin 
and  close  "  the  time  of  tlie  end,"  and  answer  to  the 
rise  of  the  American  Eepublic  and  the  expansion 
into  the  millennium.  The  1290  and  1335  days  co- 
incide with  the  two  lengths  of  the  3^  times. 

In  brief,  Daniel's  70  symbolic  weeks  embrace  the 
time  from  the  decree  of  Cyrus  to  build  and  restore 
the  city  and  temple,  to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ 
and  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which_,  in 
solar  time,  was  564  years  to  the  first  event  and  603 
years  to  the  latter.  And  from  this  last  event,  the 
destruction  of  the  holy  place,  it  was  to  be  3^  times, 
or  623,833  days  and  17  hours,  to  the  rise  of  a  great 
nationality. 

Now,  if  70  symbolic  weeks  are  equal  to  564  solar 
years,  3^  times,  or  1260  symbolic  days,  are  equal  to 
1708  solar  years  ;  but  1708  solar  years,  or  623,833 
days,  reach  from  the  burning  of  the  temple  on  the 
189th  day  of  tlie  year  68,  A.  D.,  to  the  4th  day  of 
July,  1776. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  the  70  weeks  call  for  two 
endings — the  cutting:  off  of  Messiah,  and  the  de- 


24  DEFENCE    or    ARMAGEDDON. 

striiction  of  the  holy  place.  But  these  two  events 
are  39  j^ears  apart.  The  two  lengths  arc  made  out 
legitimately  by  adding  the  proper  sabbatic  time  of 
days,  weeks,  and  years,  as  authorized  by  the  Jewish 
calendar;  for  the  weeks  themselves  are  ^^deter- 
mined," necfag,  cut  short  or  ahhreviaiedyveeks.  So 
that  both  lengths  are  accurately  fulfilled,  and  are 
correctly  termed  "  70  weeks." 

But  to  suppose,  as  do  most  all  of  the  old  com- 
mentators, that  a  day  means  a  year,  and  that  YO 
weeks  are  to  be  understood  as  490  years,  is  to  fall 
short  of  the  events  predicted,  94  years  in  the  first 
case,  and  113  years  in  the  second  ;  consequently, 
their  theory  is  false.  But  time  has  not  only  de- 
monstrated the  error  in  their  opinion  of  the  70 
weeks,  but  also  their  error  in  relation  to  the  1260 
and  1290  days  that  were  to  follow.  .If  days  meant 
years,  pray  tell  us  what  great  nationality  arose  at 
the  end  of  1290  years  after  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem? or  what  other  great  event  happened  that 
could  possibly  be  construed  into  a  fulfilment?  Pos- 
itively none. 

The  calculation,  being  purely  mathematical,  and 
guided  by  astronomy,  has  been  rigidly  made  to  the 
tenth  fraction  of  a  second,  and  must  be  reliable. 
The  interpretation  of  the  chronology  is  legitimate, 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  2o 

for  it  is  governed  by  Daniel's  70  weeks;  conse- 
quently, the  fulfilment  is  shown  in  the  rise  of  a 
glorious  civil  and  religious  republic  exactly  at  the 
end  of  these  symbolic  lengths,  and  that  republic  is 
the  United  States  of  America. 

The  fifth  government  in  the  dream  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, or  the  stone  kingdom,  symbolizes  our  great 
nationality. 

The  king  of  Babylon  saw  in  his  vision  a  vast 
image,  "whose  brightness  was  excellent,  and  the 
form  thereof  was  terrible.  This  image's  head  was 
of  fine  gold,  his  breast  and  his  arms  of  silver,  his 
belly  and  his  thighs  of  brass,  his  legs  of  iron,  his 
feet  part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay."  In  this  terrific 
image,  as  interpreted  by  the  prophet,  God  showed 
to  the  Assyrian  monarch  the  whole  of  monarchy  to 
the  end  of  time,  in  four  great  dynasties  that  should 
consecutively  arise,  his  being  the  first  of  the  series  : 
"  Thou  art  this  head  of  gold.  After  thee  shall 
arise  another  kingdom  inferior  to  thee,"  etc.  It  is 
universally  admitted  by  the  learned,  that  the  Assy- 
rian, the  Medo'Persian,  the  Macedonian,  and  the 
Koman  empires,  are  clearly  and  unequivocally  rep- 
resented here,  and  that,  too,  in  the  order  in  which 
they  arose.  In  the  fourth  or  iron  portion  of  this 
image,  another  substance  enters  into  the  formation 


26  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

of  its  feet  and  toes,  of  whicli  a  more  minute  and 
extended  description  and  interpretation  are  given 
than  of  any  other  part  of  the  dream :  "  And 
whereas  thou  sawest  the  feet  and  toes,  part  of 
potters'  clay,  and  part  of  iron,  the  kingdom  shall 
be  divided  ;  and  there  shall  be  in  it  of  the  strength 
of  the  iron,  forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  the  iron 
mixed  with  the  miry  clay.  And  as  the  toes  of  the 
feet  were  part  of  iron,  and  part  of  clay^  so  the  king- 
dom shall  be  partly  strong,  and  partly  broken. 
And  whereas  thou  sawest  iron  mixed  with  miry 
clay,  they  sliall  mingle  themselves  luith  the  seed  of  men  ; 
but  they  shall  not  cleave  one  to  another,  even  as 
iron  is  not  mixed  with  clay."  That  the  two  mate- 
rials constituting  the  feet  and  toes  should  always 
have  been  understood  to  represent  a  division  of  the 
kingdom  into  a  stronger  and  weaker  part  of  the 
civil  government,  is  the  only  opinion  perhaps  ever 
offered  by  commentators  in  every  age.  The  theory 
of  Armageddon  alone  maintains  that  the  division 
of  the  fourth  empire,  as  represented  by  the  feet 
and  toes,  symbolizes  the  ten  kingdoms,,  which, 
according  to  Bishop  Newton,  was  the  exact  num- 
ber that  actually  did  arise  from  the  old  Koman 
empire  ;  but  that  the  iron  and  clay  in  the  feet  and 
toes  symbolized  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  and 


DEFENCE    OF    ARM  A  GEDD ON.  27 

nothing  else.  With  this  interpretation  the  words 
of  the  angel  perfectly  agree,  and  are  impressively 
intelligible:  "Whereas  thou  sawest  iron  mixed 
with  miry  clay,  theij  sliall  mingle  themselves  with  the 
seed  of  men  ;  hut  they  shall  not  cleave  one  to  another, 
even  as  iron  is  not  mixed  with  clay."  That  is,  as 
a  perfect  chemical  amalgam  with  the  two  cannot 
he  formed,  because  the  ingredients  will  not  cohere, 
so  the  union  of  Church  and  State  will  never  be 
happy  in  its  combination — never  a  harmonious 
and  peaceful  union — but  an  illegitimate  commerce, 
unsanctioned  by  the  will  of  God,  and  ruinous  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  human  family.  "They 
shall  mingle  themselves  with  the  seed  of  men." 
That  is,  a  superior  order  of  men  will  join  an  infe- 
rior order  ;  or  the  Church  shall  be  joined  to  the 
State,  and,  consequently,  such  a  government  must 
always  be  partly  strong  and  partly  broken — a  polit- 
ico-ecclesiastical concubinage  that  would  curse  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

This  interpretation  is  greatly  strengthened  by 
the  chronological  character  of  the  image  ;  the  iron 
and  clay  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  feet  and 
toes,  after  that  the  Roman  empire  for  a  thousand 
years  had  stood  upon  its  iron  legs,  a  nation  of  sol- 
diers.    The  date  of  the  feet  synchronizes  most  won- 


28  DEFfiNCEOF    ARMAGEDDON. 

derfully  with  the  event  represented  ;  for  Church 
and  State  union  in  the  Roman  empire  began  under 
Constantine,  A.  D.  325,  and  was  perpetuated  with 
each  of  the  ten-toe  kingdoms  that  swarmed  out  of 
the  old  Roman  hive. 

Such  was  the  image  and  its  legitimate  interpret- 
ation, a  knowledge  of  which  is  essential  to  a  cor- 
rect understanding  of  the  fifth  or  stone  kingdom. 

"  Thou  sawest  till  that  a  stone  was  cut  out  with- 
out hands,  which  smote  the  image  upon  his  feet 
that  were  of  iron  and  clay,  and  brake  them  to 
pieces.  Then  was  the  iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the 
silver,  and  the  gold,  broken  to  pieces  together,  and 
became  like  the  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing- 
floors  ;  and  the  wind  carried  them  away_,  that  no 
place  was  found  for  them  ;  and  the  stone  that 
smote  the  image  became  a  great  mountain,  and 
filled  the  whole  earth."  Of  this  sublime  symbol 
the  angel  gives  the  following  interpretation  :  ''In 
the  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven 
set  up  a  kingdom,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed  ; 
and  the  kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people, 
but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these 
kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  for  ever.  Forasmuch 
as  thou  sawest  that  the  stone  was  cut  out  of  the 
mountain  without  hands,  and  that  it  brake  in  pieces 


DEFENCE    OF     ARMAGEDDON.  29 

the  iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  the  silver,  and  the 
gokl ;  the  great  God  hath  made  known  to  the  king 
what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter  ;  and  the  dream 
is  certain,  and  the  interpretation  thereof  sure." 
Let  it  he  observed,  the  word  kingdom,  in  the  pro- 
phecies, is  a  convertible  term  with  government,  and 
must  be  so  understood  in  this  passage. 

The  absurdity  of  applying  the  stone  kingdom  to 
Christianity  is  so  very  obvious,  it  is  indeed  remark- 
able that  the  learned  should  endorse  such  an  opin- 
ion. The  stone  could  not  symbolize  Christianity, 
1.  Because  it  did  not  arise  at  the  'proper  time  for 
Christianity,  "iji  the  days  of  these  kings"  must 
refer  to  that  plurality  of  kings  last  mentioned,  the 
ten-toe  kings  or  kingdoms,  that  arose  from  the 
Roman  empire.  The  philosophy  of  our  language 
demands  this  sense.  But  Christianity  arose  in  the 
days  of  one  king,  Augustus  Cfesar.  In  point  of 
fact,  then,  the  truth  of  history  for  ever  forbids  any 
other  interpretation.  Our  great  nationality  arose 
exactly  in  the  days  of  that  very  plurality  of  kings 
or  kingdoms  that  came  out  of  the  old  Roman  dy- 
nasty. 2.  The  stone  kingdom  did  not  arise  in  the 
proper  place  for  Christianity.  Rome  arose  where 
the  Grrecian  empire  had  stood,  the  Grecian  or  Ma- 
cedonian succeeded  Medo-Persia,  and  Medo-Persia 


30  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

was  successor  to  the  Babylonian  or  Assyrian  king- 
dom ;  but  the  stone  kingdom  had  no  previous  con- 
nection with  this  corporate  image  of  monarchy  ; 
did  not  grow  up  under  its  shadow^  precincts,  or 
presence,  but  comes  from  a  distance,  and  strikes 
the  image  from  ivitJiout,  and,  at  one  dreadful  stroke 
of  external  violence,  breaks  the  colossal  image  to 
fragments  ;  and  its  atoms,  ground  to  infinitesimal 
dust,  fly  like  chaff  before  "  the  winds  of  the  summer 
threshing-floors."  But  Christianity  arose  within 
the  dominions  of  Rome  :  Judea  was  a  Roman  pro- 
vince where  Christianity  was  born.  3.  The  stone 
kingdom  could  not  have  arisen  at  all  at  the  time 
that  Christianity  arose,  or  it  would  have  arisen  in 
the  Roman  empire  also  ;  for  Rome  at  that  time 
embraced  the  known  world.  At  the  birth  of  Christ, 
"  There  w^ent  out  a  decree  from  Cassar  Augustus, 
that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed."  But  there 
was  a  land,  my  countrymen,  where  the  Roman 
cohorts  were  never  marshaled — a  land  that  Heaven 
had  concealed  from  the  cupidity  and  ambition  of 
her  conquering  armies.  That  land  is  our  own 
beloved  America,  the  only  portion  of  the  globe, 
beyond  the  limits  of  ancient  Rome,  where  a  great 
nationality,  in  its  constitution,  character,  and  mis- 
sion, could  possibly  answer  the  true  meaning  of  the 


DEFENC  E    OF    AR  MA  GEDDON.  31 

fifth  symbolic  kingdom  that  the  God  of  heaven  would 
set  uj). 

As  the  political  governments  of  monarchy  were 
severally  represented  by  a  symbol  taken  from  the 
mineral  kingdom  in  one  corporate  connection,  show- 
ing the  uniformity  of  the  genius  that  pervaded  the 
whole,  so  the  fifth  government,  being  political  also, 
is  symbolized  by  a  mineral  type  (a  stone)  likewise. 
But  being  entirely  distinct  from  and  unconnected 
with  the  image  of  monarchy,  it  is  very  clear  that 
the  fifth  government  is  not  only  a  political  organi- 
zation, but  an  anti-monarchical  government ;  con- 
sequently, a  political  republican  government,  arising 
under  the  supervision  of  Almighty  God — "a  stone 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  ivithout  hands:"  brought 
into  being  and  glorious  nationality  by  a  wonderful 
chain  of  Divine  providences. 

The  violent  destruction  of  the  monarchical  imasie 
by  the  stone,  necessarily  implies  political  organiza- 
tion and  military  power.  The  mild  and  tranquil 
genius  of  Christianity  offers  no  violence  to  any  man, 
or  any  nation  ;  but  it  wins  its  gradual  conquests  by 
moral  suasion.  But  here  is  a  power  dreadful  as  the 
enginery  of  battle,  swift  and  destructive  as  the  bolt 
of  heaven.  And  did  Christianity  indeed  break 
down  and  annihilate  the  Roman  empire  ?     What  a 


32  DEFENCE    OF    ARM AGRDDOV. 

failure  !  Was  it  not  the  barbarian  hordes  of  Goths 
and  Yandals  from  the  North  that  overran  imperial 
Rome  ?  But  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  stone 
smiting  the  image  ^^  on  the  feet  V  "Why  was  the 
attack  not  made  upon  the  head,  or  upon  some  vital 
part  ?  Let  it  be  remembered,  the/eei  was  the  point 
of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  ;  consequently, 
the  mission  of  this  great  fifth  nationality  was  the 
destruction  of  State  and  Church  union,  as  well  as 
the  utter  and  ultimate  extermination  of  ecclesiastical 
and  political  despotism  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Now,  we  appeal  to  the  assembled  wisdom  before  us, 
to  profound  statesmen,  and  venerable  ministers  of 
God,  if  the  antagonism  of  the  stone  to  the  iron  and 
clay  is  not  fully  answered  in  the  genius  of  the 
American  people  ?  Are  not  the  sentiment  and 
feeling  of  this  great  nation  more  harmonious  and 
universal  in  their  hostility  to  Church  and  State 
union  than  on  any  other  subject?  Has  not  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  devoting  a 
whole  chapter  to  the  subject,  raised  an  eternal  bar- 
rier against  it  ?  And  is  not  our  nation  the  only 
enlightened  government  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  where  the  illegitimate  union  of  Church  and 
State  is  most  solemnly  interdicted?  thus  leading 
our  free  people  to  "  Render  unto  Ctesar  the  things 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  33 

which  are  Ctesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that 
are  God's." 

While  it  is,  therefore,  conclusive  that  the  stone 
kingdom  is  a  providential  political  government, 
*'cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands,"  incom- 
patible with,  hostile  to,  and  destined  in  its  great 
mission  to  annihilate  the  last  vestige  of  monarchy 
from  the  nations  of  the  earth,  it  is  equally  evident 
that  "  the  mountain"  out  of  which  the  stone  is  cut 
is  Christianity.  So  our  great  government  is  founded 
upon  the  Bible.  Kemove  this  indestructible  basis 
that  supports  the  fair  fabric  of  our  political  institu- 
tions, and  we  have  no  government.  The  Declara- 
tion of  American  Independence  evidently  recognizes 
the  obligations  of  the  first,  and  fully  embraces  the 
principles  of  the  second  great  commandment.  The 
smiles  of  a  Christian  Sabbath  inspire  the  devotion, 
and  call  from  labor  to  rest  our  toiling  millions  ; 
while  the  obligation  of  every  officer  of  state,  from 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation  down  to  the  hum- 
blest minister  of  justice,  is  rendered  inviolate  by  a 
solemn  averment  upon  Divine  revelation. 

The  history  of  the  world  confirms  the  fact_,  that 
a  nation's  religion  moulds  the  character  of  its  civic 
government,  A  despotic,  superstitious,  and  blood- 
thirsty system  of  religion  will  form  and  fashion  its 
4 


34  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

political  economy  after  the  same  model.  So  a  pure, 
enlightened,  and  divinely  authorized  religion  has 
ever  been  the  maternal  source  of  a  pure,  liberal, 
and  happy  civil  government. 

As,  therefore,  the  four  great  empires  were  to  be 
succeeded  by  a  fifth  great  government,  altogether 
diifering  in  its  principles  and  character,  and  as  the 
United  States  of  America  is  the  only  great  nation 
that  ever  has  or  ever  can  arise  to  answer  the  de- 
scription and  fill  the  mission  of  that  fifth  empire, 
the  conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  our  glorious  re- 
public is  the  stone  kingdom  that  the  God  of  heaven 
was  to  ''  set  up." 

A  glimpse  of  this  sublime  reality  inspired  the 
good  Bishop  Berkeley,  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago,  to  declare  what  even  now  seems  a  wonderful 
consummation : 

"  "Westward  the  star  of  empire  makes  its  way  ; 
The  first  four  acts  already  passed, 
The  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day  : 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

The  United  States  of  America  is  symbolized  by  the 
man-child  of  the  loinged  woman  of  the  wilderness. 
"  And  there  appeared  a  great  wonder  in  heaven :  a 
woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under 
her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars. 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  35 

And  there  appeared  another  wonder  in  heaven  ;  and 
behold  a  great  red  dragon,  having  seven  lieads  and 
ten  horns,  and  seven  crowns  upon  his  heads.  .  . 
And  the  dragon  stood  before  the  woman  which  was 
ready  to  be  delivered,  for  to  devour  her  child  as 
soon  as  it  was  born.  And  she  brought  forth  a 
man-child,  who  was  to  rule  all  nations  with  a  rod 
of  iron ;  and  her  child  was  caught  up  to  God,  and 
to  his  throne.  .  .  And  to  the  woman  were  given 
two  wings  of  a  great  eagle,  that  she  might  fly  into 
the  wilderness,  into  her  place.  .  .  And  the  serpent 
cast  out  of  his  mouth  water  as  a  flood,  that  he  might 
cause  her  to  be  carried  away  of  the  flood.  And  the 
earth  helped  the  woman,  and  the  earth  opened  her 
mouth,  and  swallowed  up  the  flood  which  the  dragon 
cast  out  of  his  mouth.  And  the  dragon  was  wroth 
with  the  woman,"  etc. 

It  is  almost  universally  admitted  that  the  true 
Church  of  Grod  is  represented  by  the  woman  in  this 
symbol.  And,  without  pausing  to  examine  the 
many  opinions  which  divines  have  entertained  as  to 
the  true  meaning  of  the  man-child — some  supposing 
it  refers  to  Christ,  and  others  to  Constantine — we 
will  demonstrate  that  the  symbolic  meaning  of  the 
man-child  is  that  of  a  great  nationality  that  was  to 
arise  under  the  superintending  providence  of  Al- 


36  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

miglity  God  in  the  latter  times  ;  and  that  that  great 
nationality  is  the  United  States  of  America. 

To  this  man-child  a  rod  was  given  to  rule — al- 
ways the  ensign  of  political  power ;  so  that,  whiile 
the  mother  represents  a  pure,  enlightened  religion, 
her  offspring,  "a  man-child,"  who  is  invested  with 
political  authority,  must  represent  an  enlightened 
nationality.     This  exposition  we  claim  with  great 
confidence  to  be  legitimate.     We  shall  now  show 
that  such  is  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Isaiah  declares,  "  Before  she  travailed,  she  brought 
forth  ;  before  her  pain  came,  she  was  delivered  of  a 
man-child.     Who   hath   heard   such    things?  who 
hath  seen  such  things  ?     Shall  the  earth  be  made 
to  bring  forth  in  one  day  ?  or  shall  a  nation  he  horn 
at  once  .^  for  as  soon  as  Zion  travailed,  she  brought 
forth."     In  this  passage,  the  term  '^Zion,"  mean- 
ing the  Church  of  God,  settles,  beyond  all  doubt, 
the  symbolic  meaning  of  the  ' '  tvoman  clothed  with 
the  sun  ;"  and  as  "  the  man-child  "  in  the  one  case 
is  put  in  apposition  with  ''  a  nation  horn  at  once," 
he  must  be  understood  in  the  other  instance  to  be 
the  symbol  of  a  nation  also.     We  cannot  deny  the 
explanation  without  denying  the  interpretation  the 
Holy  Scriptures  give  of  their  own  symbols. 

But  is  this  nationality,  arising  from  a  true  and 


D  E  F  E  N  C  E    0  P    A  Pt  AI  A  G  E  D  D  0  N  .  87 

enlightened  religion,  the  United  States  of  America  ? 
We  shall  see.  In  the  first  place,  the  man-child 
was  the  offspring  of  a  true  and  enlightened  religion. 
2.  Its  destruction  was  determined  upon,  in  its  in- 
fancy, by  a  great  red  dragon.  3.  It  received  "a 
rod,"  in  its  infancy,  to  rule,  or  to  maintain  political 
jurisdiction.  4.  He  and  his  mother  were  favored 
by  the  "  earth."  5.  "The  child  was  caught  up  to 
the  throne  of  God." 

Now,  how  remarkably  does  our  great  nation  an- 
swer to  this  description  !  Our  nationality  arose 
from  and  was  the  legitimate  offspring  of  an  en- 
lightened liberal  religion.  Our  honored  ancestry, 
having  fled  from  the  storms  of  persecution  in  the 
old  world,  sought  to  find  in  the  new,  freedom  to 
worship  God  ;  the  founders  and  framers  of  our  po- 
litical fabric  being,  in  the  main,  worshipers  of  the 
true  God,  and  believers  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 
Our  infancy  was  Avarily  watched  by  the  demon  of 
despotism,  and  fearful  were  the  efforts  made  by  the 
dragon  of  autocracy  to  crush  us  in  the  cradle.  But 
"  the  earth  helped  the  woman."  The  seat  of  the 
old  Koman  empire  is  termed,  in  the  symbolic  lan- 
guage of  the  Apocalypse,  "the  earth."  And  did 
not  several  of  the  European  powers  come  to  our  as- 
sistance in  that  dreadful  conflict?  Russia  declared 
4* 


38  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

neutrality,  Spain,  and  especially  Holland,  waged 
war  against  England,  while  the  fleets  of  France 
came  to  our  rescue  in  our  Kevolutionary  struggle. 
"  The  earth  helped  the  woman,"  and  the  man-child 
was  rescued. 

But  we  were  specially  protected  and  defended  by 
the  providence  of  Almighty  God,  which  we  under- 
stand the  expression,  "  caught  up  to  the  throne  of 
God,"  to  imply.  How  wonderful  the  eventful  his- 
tory of  our  new-born  nation  !  Who  can  trace  the 
special  interventions  of  a  Divine  hand  through  all 
the  stages  of  our  infant  existence,  from  our  natal 
hour,  without  acknowledging  that  the  God  of 
Washington  was  on  our  side  ? 

The  coincidences  are  so  numerous,  and  the  agree- 
ment of  our  great  nationality  with  the  symbolic 
description  of  the  man-child  so  wonderfully  accurate, 
that  the  conclusion  is  demonstration.  For  if  per- 
fect coincidence  be  perfect  fulfilment,  then  the  United 
States  of  America  is  symbolized  by  the  man-child 
of  the  winged  woman  in  the  wilderness. 

The  United  States  of  America  is  the  nationality 
that  is  promised  in  the  prophetic  Scriptures  to  arise 
in  the  latter  times  as  Israel  Bestored.  It  has  long 
been  a  favorite  theory,  both  with  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian writers,  that  the  nationality  to  be  gathered 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  39 

together  in  the  latter  days^  was  understood  to  mean 
the  return  or  restoration  of  the  scattered  sons  of 
Abraham  to  the  land  of  Palestine.  We  are  not 
surprised  at  the  confidence  with  which  this  opinion 
has  been  entertained  from  age  to  age,  because  it  is 
a  legitimate  a  priori  interpretation,  seeing  this  na- 
tionality is  called  "  Israel  "  by  the  prophets.  In  a 
conversation  had  with  a  venerable  Bishop  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  he  inquired  of  us:  "Sir,  by 
what  construction  of  language  do  you  make  the 
great  nationality,  promised  to  arise  in  the  latter 
times,  to  mean  the  United  States  ?  That  the  Bible 
authorizes  us  to  expect  such  a  nationality  there  can 
be  no  doubt ;  but  how  do  you  make  out  that  nation- 
ality to  be  the  United  States  of  America,  as  it  was 
promised  to  be  Israel T'  To  which  we  replied: 
"  Beloved  Bishop,  the  predictions  of  the  prophets 
are  put  up  in  Hebrew  dress  ;  the  regalia  is  Mosaic, 
the  costume  is  Israelitish .  They  did  not  say ,  friends 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  Americans,  or  even 
Christians  ;  but  they  used  the  best  terms  they  had 
on  hand  :  they  said  ^Israel.'  " 

Only  doff  the  subject  of  its  Jewish  robes,  and 
the  symmetrical  proportions  and  sublimity  of  Chris- 
tian republicanism  are  as  perfectly  delineated  as  a 
Grecian  pillar.     But  we  will  now  show  that  what 


40  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

is  reasonable  and  legitimate  is  a  true  principle 
of  interpretation,  being  authorized  by  the  great 
Teacher  from  heaven.  Said  the  disciples  to  our 
Lord,  "Why  say  the  scribes  that  Elias  must  first 
come?"  for  it  is  written,  "Behold,  I  will  send 
Elijah  the  prophet_,  before  that  great  and  notable 
day  of  the  Lord."  "Jesus  answered  and  said 
unto  them,  Elias  is  come  already,  and  they  knew 
him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him  whatsoever  they 
listed.  Then  the  disciples  understood  that  he 
spake  unto  them  of  John  the  Baptist."  Now,  sup- 
pose the  difficulty  of  the  pious  Bishop  were  pro- 
posed to  our  Lord  :  '"'Master,  by  what  construction 
of  language  do  you  make  out  that  John  the  Bap- 
tist, the  son  of  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth,  is  indeed 
Elias  the  prophet,  which  was  for  to  come,  seeing 
he  is  in  reality  another  man  altogether?"  Does 
not  the  same  difficulty  exist  in  both  cases  ;  and 
has  not  our  Lord,  by  answering  the  objection  in 
the  one  case,  removed  it  in  the  otlier  ?  John  was 
"the  Elias  which  was  for  to  come;"  not  because 
that  was  the  name  by  which  he  was  called  in  his 
generation  among  men,  but  because  he  came  "in 
the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias,"  thereby  answering 
the  moral  portrait  that  was  drawn  by  the  pencil  of 
inspiration,  and  was.  consequently,  declared  by  the 


DEFENCE     OF    ARMAGEDDON.  41 

Saviour  to  be  indeed  the  Elias.  If,  therefore,  a 
great  nationality  is  promised  to  arise  in  the  latter 
days,  and  the  United  States  of  America  exhibits 
the  character  of  such  nationality,  as  delineated  by 
the  pen  of  prophecy,  arising  ' '  in  the  spirit  and 
power ' '  of  Israel  to  come,  and  no  other  nation 
under  heaven  ever  has  or  ever  can  answer  the  de- 
scription, then,  perfect  coincidence  being  perfect 
fulfilment,  our  glorious  republic  is  the  nationality 
which  was  to  be  gathered  together  in  the  latter 
times  under  the  prophetic  name  of  Israel. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  term  Israel  was  a 
cognomen  of  honor,  and  not  the  natural  right  of  a 
Jew.  God  gave  the  appellation  to  Jacob,  because 
"  as  a  prince  he  prevailed  with  God."  While  the 
children  of  Jacob  maintained  their  integrity,  they 
enjoyed  this  high  distinction  ;  but  St.  Paul  defends 
the  application  of  the  term  to  Gentiles  who  may 
possess  the  proper  claims  to  this  honor. 

But  perhaps  the  most  plausible  bill  of  exceptions 
taken  to  our  theory  is  presented  here.  It  is  sug- 
gested, with  much  apparent  reason,  that  we  are 
too  wicked  and  unworthy  a  people  to  bear  the 
honored  title  of  Israel.  Alas  for  us,  my  country- 
men !  Heaven  knows  full  well  that  we  are  wicked 
enough  ;  for  when  we  consider  the  special  provi- 


42  D  E  F  E  N  C  E    O  F    A  K  x\l  A  G  E  D  D  0  N  . 

dence  of  Almighty  God,  marvelously  exercised 
over  us  from  the  very  infancy  of  our  organization, 
through  every  change  of  fortune — what  prosperity 
has  crowned  our  cause — how  we  have  been  guided 
and  guarded  by  a  Divine  supervision,  as  virtually 
present  as  the  holy  Shekinah,  "  in  a  cloud  by  day, 
and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night  " — and  then  look  at 
the  abominations  that  pollute  our  national  escutch- 
eon, it  is  humiliating  in  the  extreme.  Look  at  the 
blasphemy  that  outrages  the  highest  obligation  of 
created  beings,  marring  the  purest  language  on 
earth,  in  desecrating  the  name  of  the  holiest  Being 
in  the  universe.  Look  at  the  violation  of  even 
heathen  honesty,  discrediting  character  in  almost 
all  gradations  of  society.  See  the  frenzy  of  politi- 
cal parties,  disrupting  the  very  bonds  of  brother- 
hood ;  while  blood  and  debauchery  infect  the  air 
and  pollute  the  earth,  bribery,  homicide,  and  mur- 
der transpire  in  the  very  halls  of  our  nation's 
councils. 

But  bad  as  we  are,  fellow-citizens,  we  are  the 
very  best  people  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  The 
great  heart  of  our  magnanimous  country  beats  re- 
sponsive to  the  sighs  and  sorrows  of  all  nations. 
Our  peaceful  land  is  the  hospitable  home  for  the 
oppressed  of  all  countries.     Our  laws  are  the  tran- 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  43 

script  of  eternal  justice.  True,  we  have  neither 
titled  dukes  nor  hereditary  lords,  but  the  emolu- 
ments of  profit  and  honor  are  offered  to  the  de- 
serving of  all  classes,  and  our  loftiest  promotions 
are  accessible  to  the  humblest  poor.  Though  de- 
nounced abroad  by  an  aristocracy  that  dooms  its 
own  pauper  millions  to  proscription,  beggary,  and 
starvation,  yet  our  institutions,  which  they  lain 
would  pity,  are  the  pulsations  of  health,  compared 
with  the  plague-spots  of  pestilential  Europe. 

Already  have  three  hundred  thousand  of  our 
African  population  become  the  Christianized  child- 
ren of  God — a  greater  number  of  true  Christian 
converts,  heathens  as  their  fathers  were  who  first 
came  amongst  us,  than  are  to  be  found  in  all  the 
missions  of  all  denominations  upon  the  earth.  We 
have  colonized  a  happy  republic  also,  upon  the  be- 
nighted shores  of  tlieir  fatherland.  Our  ministers 
of  mercy  have  gone  to  every  heathen  shore,  and 
preached  glad  tidings  to  almost  every  island  that 
dots  the  bosom  of  the  ocean.  Beams  of  light,  ra- 
diating from  this  central  home  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty,  already  break  upon  the  distant  mil- 
lions that  weep  in  tlie  shadow  of  death. 

When  the  noble  Greek  is  crushed  by  the  hoof  of 
Turkish  despotism,  the  halls  of  our  Senate  are  elo- 


44  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

quent  with  a  sympathy  that  responds  in  the  bosom 
of  a  whole  people.  When  Poland,  Hungary,  and 
Italy  struggle  and  fall,  the  hope  of  the  American 
people  struggles  and  falls  with  them.  When  the 
cry  of  starvation  is  heard  from  ill-fated  Ireland, 
American  transports  are  freighted  with  the  munifi- 
cent offering  of  a  generous  people.  And,  moved 
by  a  magnanimity  which  knows  no  parallel,  our 
swift  ships  are  dispatched  to  recover  England's  lost 
navigators  in  the  regions  of  eternal  snow. 

We  have  the  one  living  and  true  God,  one  Sa- 
viour, and  one  religion — one  Constitution,  one 
Confederacy,  one  Eepublic,  one  nationality  ;  there- 
fore, a  true  religion  and  a  true  civil  government  is 
the  Israel  that  was  to  come,  the  *■'  nation  born  at 
once" — born  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776. 

But  let  us  not  be  misled  by  the  consecrated  name 
of  Israel.  For  "  all  are  not  Israel  who  are  called 
Israel."  A  nation  possessing  the  true  religion, 
and  enjoying  an  enlightened  and  liberal  civil  gov- 
ernment_,  may  have  many  unbelieving  and  rebel- 
lious people  in  its  midst  ;  and,  doubtless,  millen- 
nial glory,  and  the  day  of  judgment  also,  will  find 
both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  tlie  just  and  the 
unjust,  the  wise  and  the  foolish  virgins,  for  the 
wheat  and  tares  will  grow  together  until  the  gen- 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  45 

eral  harvest,  "  whicli  is  the  end  of  the  world." 
Even  Israel  restored  to  nationality  will  not  be  the 
Eden  of  bliss. 

It  was  in  the  brightest  days  of  the  Hebrew  na- 
tion when  the  tribes  of  Jacob  were  led  out  to  the 
solitudes  of  the  desert  to  behold  the  glory  of  God 
revealed  upon  the  sacred  mountain.  Clouds  of 
awful  grandeur  encircled  its  brow.  Lightings  rent 
the  mantle  of  the  sky,  and  deep-toned  thunders 
rocked  Mount  Sinai  from  its  glowing  summit  to  its 
granite  base.  Then,  where  was  Israel — God's  own 
Israel  ?  Behold  him  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  making 
a  golden  calf! 

By  the  term  Israel,  therefore,  we  mean  to  be  un- 
derstood, a  providential  nation,  possessing  the  only 
true  religion,  and  a  divinely  sanctioned  form  of 
civil  government.  Such,  with  all  its  sunshine  and 
shadows,  was  ancient  Israel,  and  such  is  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  the  United  States  of  America 
alone. 

As  to  the  scattered  Jews — who  have  long  since 
lost  all  genealogical  proof  of  their  respective  tribes 
— forming  such  great  nationality  any  where,  that 
is  supremely  ridiculous.  That  they  may  return  to 
Jewr}'-,  we  think  highly  probable  ;  because  every 
thing  formerly  connected  with  that  nation  was 
5 


46  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

typical.  Their  fiftieth,  or  Jubal  year,  was  a  time 
when  the  scattered  Jews  returned  to  their  respect- 
ive homes,  and  were  put  in  possession  or  seized  of 
their  patrimonial  estates.  This  custom  may  an- 
ticipate the  jubilee  of  the  world  ;  that  is,  when  re- 
publicanism shall  become  world-wide.  Then  the 
Jews,  in  masses,  may  return  to  Canaan  ;  for  the 
Almighty  by  deed  of  gift  made  Abraham  and  his 
posterity  proprietors  of  that  land.  They  may  re- 
turn and  form  a  little  Christian  republic  in  Pales- 
tine. But  to  become  the  great  national  headship 
of  the  world,  restore  temple-worship  and  priestly 
offerings,  with  all  the  gorgeous  paraphernalia  of 
its  ancient  sacerdotal  splendor,  is  but  the  pious 
dream  of  fanaticism.  The  simplicity  and  spiritual- 
ity of  the  religion  of  the  Son  of  God  forbids  the 
idea  ;  while  the  burdensome  rites  of  the  Jewish 
ritual  have  long  since  been  discarded  by  the  unos- 
tentatious loveliness  and  grace  of  a  Christianity 
that  claims  to  worship  the  Father  "  in  spirit  and 
in  truth." 

But  even  the  supposition  that  they  will  return 
and  form  a  literal  government  in  their  ancient 
home  may  be  a  mistake.  For  those  prophecies 
that  seem  to  refer  to  their  literal  restoration  are 
interpreted  by  many  worthy  divines  to  foretell  their 


DEFENCE     OF     ARMAGEDDON.  47 

conversion  to  their  long-rejected  Saviour.     This  is 
indeed  plausible. 

"la  foreign  dimes  they'll  cease  to  roam  ; 
Nor,  weeping,  think  on  Jordan's  flood  ; 
In  every  land  they'll   find  a  home, 
In  every  temple  worship   God." 

And  so  mote  it  be.  But  if  the  Almighty  de- 
signed to  honor  a  people  by  raising  them  to  become 
a  great  nationality,  of  whom  is  it  probable  such 
nationality  would  be  composed  ?  Let  this  question 
be  settled  by  a  plain  principle  of  Divine  revelation. 
Who  are  the  Jews?  A  persecuted  and  disbanded 
people.  Why  are  they  persecuted  ?  For  rejecting 
the  claims  of  the  Son  of  God.  From  his  very 
birth  to  this  day  they  have,  as  a  nation,  derided 
and  discarded  him.  They  sealed  the  dreadful  im- 
precation at  his  crucifixion  :  "  His  blood  be  on  us, 
and  on  our  children."  But  there  is  another  perse- 
cuted people — the  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  They  have  been  hunted  down  in  every 
land,  like  the  hart  of  the  mountains.  They  have 
been  jjroscribed  and  execrated,  outraged  and  ban- 
ished, in  every  age  ;  and,  for  conscience'  sake,  have 
been  martyred  by  tlie  million.  Why  were  they 
persecuted,  "  scattered,  and  peeled?"  For  accept- 
ing and  acknowledging  Jesus  Christ.     Here,  then, 


48  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

is  the  difference.  Now,  apply  an  infallible  princi- 
ple wliicli  must  test  this  question.  Said  the  adora- 
ble Saviour,  "  If  any  man  serve  me,  him  will  my 
Father  honor."  Is  it,  then,  at  all  probable  that 
God  would  honor  a  people  by  the  promised  glori- 
ous nationality,  who  have,  as  a  nation,  spurned  the 
mercy  of  the  Prince  of  peace,  and  obstinately  per- 
sisted, before  the  eyes  of  all  nations,  in  rejecting 
the  clearest  evidence  of  his  Messiahship,  during  the 
long,  long  night  of  their  wanderings  ;  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  pass  by  a  people  who,  through  every 
change  of  fortune,  propitious  and  adverse,  have 
firmly  maintained  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  invin- 
cibly breasted  the  storms  of  persecuting  vengeance 
for  his  glorious  name's  sake?  Will  Heaven  honor 
a  people  who  dishonor  his  Son,  and  overlook  a  peo- 
ple who  were  ready  to  live  and  labor  and  suffer  and 
die  in  his  blessed  cause  ?  The  case  being  self-evi- 
dent, and  the  rule  to  determine  our  judgment  in- 
fallible, the  decision  must  be  inevitable. 

Christianity  mourns  the  ill-fated  children  of  a 
divinely  chosen  and  illustrious  ancestry,  and  ar- 
dently prays  for  their  conversion  to  Christ.  But 
even  this  glorious  consummation  our  faith  beholds 
far  in  the  distance.  That  the  Jews  will  ultimately 
embrace  Christianity,  we  entertain  no  doubt ;  but 


DEFKNCE    OF     ARMAGEDDON.  49 

they  will  be  the  last  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
that  will  he  converted.  For  "  the  blindness  that 
has  happened  to  Israel"  will  remain  "until  the 
fullness  of  the  Grentiles  is  brought  in."  That  is, 
the  Gentile  world  will  be  converted  to  God  before 
the  blindness  of  infidelity  will  be  removed  from 
Israel.  To  suppose  the  conversion  of  the  Jewish 
nation  to  be  the  means  of  converting  the  Gentile 
world,  is,  consequently,  directly  opposed  by  the 
words  of  the  apostle.  In  their  case  we  behold  the 
verification  of  another  gospel  maxim  :  "  The  first 
shall  he  last,  and  the  last  first."  They  were  the 
first  to  hear  the  blessed  tidings  of  man's  redemp- 
tion from  the  lips  of  its  glorious  Author,  ''  but  they 
received  him  not."  And  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  his 
valedictory  to  his  own  countrymen,  declares,  "See- 
ing that  ye  judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  eternal 
life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles."  So,  also,  the 
melting  strains  that  mingled  with  the  tears  of  the 
Son  of  God  over  their  devoted  city  announced  the 
same  calamity.  "  0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou 
that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  which 
are  sent  unto  thee  ;  ho\^  often  would  I  have  gath- 
ered thy  children  together  even  as  a  hen  gathereth 
her  chickens  under  her  wing,  and  ye  would  not  .  . 
If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  the  things  which 


50  D  E  F  E  N  C  K    0  F    A  R  M  A  G  E  D  D  0  N  . 

belong  unto  thy  peace,  at  least  iu  this  thy  day,  but 
now  are  they  hid  from  thine  eyes.  .  .  Henceforth  is 
your  house  left  unto  you  desolate  ;  for  I  say  unto 
you,  ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth  till  ye  shall 
say.  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord. ' '  That  is.  Ye  shall  see  me  no  more  until  you 
will  be  rejoiced  to  hail  me  as  your  Messiah.  This 
is,  doubtless,  its  true  meaning. 

There  are  very  many  passages  of  Scripture  which 
are  universally  admitted  by  the  learned  and  judi- 
cious to  foretell  the  rise  of  a  great  nationality  in 
the  latter  times.  These  predictions  cannot,  by  any 
reasonable  construction,  be  applied  to  the  rise  of 
such  nationality  in  the  land  of  Judea ;  but  are 
most  wonderfully  descriptive  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  of  no  other  country  under  heaven. 

We  shall  now  select  a  few  out  of  the  many 
marked  descriptions  and  coincidences  only  realized 
in  our  favored  land  and  nation. 

First.  The  land  of  the  promised  nationality  was 
to  be  located  hetiveen  two  seas- — the  eastern  sea  and 
the  great  western  sea  :  "  From  the  border  unto  the 
east  sea,  this  is  the  east  side.  .  .  The  west  side  also 
shall  be  the  great  sea  ;  from  the  border,  this  is  the 
west  side."  Ezek.  xlvii,  18,  20.  These  broad 
boundaries  of  our  great  country  are  perfect ;    the 


DEFENCE    OF    ARJIAGEDDON.  51 

west  side  being  the  "  great  sea,"  is  most  remarka- 
ble. Judea  is  not  bounded  on  the  east  side  by  a 
sea  at  all.  This  passage,  which  is  taken  from  the 
prophet's  geographical  description  of  the  land  of 
restored  Israel,  cannot  possibly  apply  to  Palestine, 
if  Ezekiel  has  given  its  true  boundaries.  All  com- 
mentators understand  this  chapter  as  an  inspired 
account  that  maps  the  country  of  the  promised 
nationality  ;  but  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  lo- 
cate this  land  in  Palestine,  for  the  want  of  an  east- 
ern border.  No  sea  bounds  old  Canaan  on  the 
east.  Learned  men  have  generally  supposed  that 
Palestine  is  the  country  referred  to,  but  let  learned 
men  show  us  that  eastern  boundary.  This  defect 
is  fatal,  and  must  for  ever  vitiate  the  claim  of 
Judea  to  this  high  distinction. 

Second.  This  land  is  described  as  being  hitherto 
uncultivated  and  unimproved — a  land  ' '  that  has 
always  been  waste."  Ezek.  xxxviii.  Of  course 
Palestine  cannot  be  referred  to  here,  for  it  cannot 
be  said  in  truth  that  Judea  has  always  been  waste. 
But  our  own  country  fully  answers  the  description. 
Our  primeval  prairies  and  grand  old  woods  pre- 
sented, on  the  arrival  of  our  ancestors,  the  same 
unbroken  wilderness  they  had  remained  for  ages, 
as  though  Heaven  had  specially  preserved  them  for 


52  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

the  giory  of  their  future  destiny.  Let  it  not  be 
said  that  the  footprints  of  the  aborigines  of  this 
country  are  an  objection  to  this  account;  for  that 
land  is  waste  where  tillage  has  never  harvested  its 
blessings  for  man.  But  such  is  the  desert  descrip- 
tion of  the  country  to  be  possessed  by  the  nation- 
ality to  come,  and  such  was  the  new  continent  of 
America. 

The  song  of  the  eloquent  Isaiah  can  remind  you 
of  no  other  country  :  "  The  wilderness  and  the  sol- 
itary place  shall  be  glad  for  them  ;  and  the  desert 
shall  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  It  shall 
blossom  abundantly,  even  with  joy  and  singing  : 
the  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it,  the 
excellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon,  they  shall  see 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  and  the  excellency  of  our 
God.  .  .  For  in  the  wilderness  shall  waters  break 
out,  and  streams  in  the  desert.  And  the  parched 
ground  shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  land 
springs  of  water  :  in  the  habitation  of  dragons, 
where  each  lay,  shall  be  grass  with  reeds  and 
rushes." 

Tliird.  That  wonderful  country  was  to  be  inhab- 
ited by  a  people  "gathered  out  of  the  nations." 
Ezek.  xxxviii.  Not  of  one  nation  collected  to- 
gether that  had  been  scattered  amongst  other  na- 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  53 

tions,  but,  what  is  obviously  the  sense  of  the  pas- 
sage, composed  of  people  of  different  nations. — 
This  is  so  prominent  a  character  of  the  glorious 
nationality  to  come,  that  the  prophets  seem  to 
dwell  upon  it  with  rapture  and  inspired  eloquence. 
"Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  see  :  all  they 
gather  themselves  together,  they  come  to  thee  : 
thy  sons  shall  come  from  far,  and  thy  daughters  be 
nursed  by  thy  side.  Then  thou  shalt  see,  and  flow 
together^  and  thy  heart  shall  fear,  and  be  enlarged  ; 
for  the  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  converted 
(turned)  unto  thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall 
come  unto  thee.  .  .  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a 
cloud,  and  as  doves  to  their  windows?" 

The  prophet  enriches  his  sublime  description  by 
images  drawn  both  from  the  animal  and  the  vege- 
table kingdom:  "The  multitude  of  camels  shall 
cover  thee,  the  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Ephah  ; 
all  they  from  Sheba  shall  come.  .  .  All  the  flocks 
of  Kedar  shall  be  gathered  together  unto  thee.  .  . 
The  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  come  unto  thee,  the 
fir  tree,  the  pine  tree,  and  the  box  together."  Isa, 
Ix.  As  if  the  holy  seer  had  said,  Emigration  shall 
come  from  the  land  where  the  dromedaries  roam  ; 
they  shall  come  from  the  land  where  the  fir  tree 
blooms.  "  Therefore  thy  gates  shall  be  ojjen  con- 
tinually :  tliey  shall  not  be  shut  day  nor  night." 


64  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

Did  ever  sucli  a  tide  of  emigration  set  into  any- 
country  since  the  creation  of  tlie  world  as  continu- 
ally swarms  to  our  hospitable  shores  ?  Indeed,  the 
citizens  of  these  States_,  or  their  fathers,  have  come 
from  almost  every  country  under  heaven.  But  the 
prophet  enters  into  detail :  "  Strangers  shall  stand 
and  feed  your  flocks,  and  the  sons  of  the  alien  shall 
be  your  ploughmen  and  j^our  vine-dressers.  .  . 
And  the  sons  of  strangers  shall  build  your  walls, 
and  their  kings  shall  minister  unto  thee."  Now, 
the  walls  of  a  country's  defence  are  its  public  im- 
provements ;  and  it  is  notorious  that  the  sons  of 
strangers  build  most  of  our  public  works. 

"  The  sons  also  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall 
come  bending  unto  thee  ;  and  all  they  that  de- 
spised thee  shall  bow  themselves  down  at  the  soles 
of  thy  feet."  The  sons  of  the  very  soldiery  that 
invaded  your  coasts,  murdered  your  people,  and 
burnt  your  towns  ,and  villages,  should  come  to 
make  your  country  their  home  ;  and  those  who 
sneered  at  your  experiment  of  popular  freedom, 
attempted  to  crush  it  in  the  cradle,  predicted  the 
downfall  of  American  Independence,  and  that  lib- 
erty would  die  with  Washington,  and  with  his  dust 
receive  the  same  rites  of  sepulture — yes,  even  they 
should  come  and  seek  a  refuge  and  a  home  in  your 


DEFENCE   OF    ARMAGEDDON.  55 

happy  land.  How  imposing  the  picture  drawn  by 
the  pencil  of  inspiration  here  ;  and  liow  wonder- 
fully true  is  the  fulfilment  ! 

Fourth.  In  the  promised  nationality,  unlike  the 
political  economy  of  ancient  Israel,  foreigners  were 
to  he  allowed  a  place  to  dwell,  enjoy  their  homes  .^ 
and  the  pursuits  of  happiness,  in  common  with  the 
citizens  of  the  country  ;  but  it  seems  from  the  pro- 
phet, the  rights  of  suffrage  and  eligibility  to  office 
were  only  to  be  enjoyed  by  those  strangers  who 
had  lived  long  enough  in  the  land  to  raise  their 
native-born  children  :  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
that  ye  shall  divide  it  by  lot  for  an  inheritance 
unto  you,  and  to  the  strangers  that  sojourn  among 
yoUj  which  shall  beget  children  among  you  ;  and 
they  shall  be  unto  you  as  born  in  the  country 
among  the  children  of  Israel ;  they  shall  have  in- 
heritance with  you  among  the  tribes  of  Israel. — 
And  in  what  tribe  the  stranger  sojourneth,,  there 
shall  ye  give  him  his  inheritance,  saith  the  Lord 
God."  Ezek.  xlvii,  22,  23.  There  could  be  no 
propriety  in  characterizing  that  class  of  foreigners 
who  should  be  blessed  with  children  born  in  the 
land,  from  the  stranger  who  is  only  a  sojourner, 
whose  residence  is  but  recent  and  transient,  unless 
peculiar  privileges  were  understood  to   belong   to 


56  DEFENCE    OP     ARMAGEDDON. 

tlie  fathers  of  native-born  children.  As  we  lay 
no  claims  to  the  politician,  we  will  be  allowed 
strongly  to  approve  of  this  interesting  feature  in 
the  economy  of  restored  Israel.  Our  land  should 
always  be  the  welcome  home  of  foreigners  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  they  should  remain  long  enough  to 
appreciate  our  blessings,  learn  our  laws,  and  the 
genius  of  our  wonderful  constitution,  before  they 
aspire  to  dictate  or  to  govern. 

Fifth.  The  principle  of  extension^  in  enlarging 
the  boundaries  of  their  primary  possessions  should 
specially  characterize  the  prosj)erity  of  the  pro- 
mised nationality. 

"Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  behold: 
all  these  gather  themselves  together,  and  come  to 
thee.  .  .  For  thy  waste  and  desolate  places  shall 
even  now  be  too  narrow,  by  reason  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  they  that  swallowed  thee  up  (the  auto- 
cracy of  the  Old  World)  shall  be  far  away,  (beyond 
the  sea.)  The  children  which  thou  shalt  have,  (in 
this  land,)  after  thou  hast  lost  the  other,  (ancient 
Israel,)  shall  say  again  in  thy  ears,  The  place  is 
too  strait  for  me :  give  place  to  me  that  I  may 
dwell."     Isa.  xlix,  18,  20. 

Extension  seems  to  be  the  genius  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions.    From  thirteen  States,  we  have  already 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  57 

multiplied  into  thirty-one,  besides  nine  territories 
that  soon  will  he  ready  to  enter  into  the  Union. 

We  need  give  ourselves  no  uneasiness  about 
Mexico,  Cuba,  and  Central  America.  Monarchy 
and  anarchy  must  melt  away  in  the  immediate 
proximity  of  a  glorious  republic  ;  while  the  natu- 
ral interests  of  those  countries  will  impel  them  to 
seek  annexation,  that  they  may  also  enjoy  in  com- 
mon with  us  the  benign  blessings  of  our  happy 
confederacy.  Indeed,  the  words  of  proptiecy,  le- 
gitimately interpreted,  warrant  that  the  domain  of 
this  nationality  will  embrace  the  entire  continent 
of  North  and  South  America.  For  its  "dominion 
shall  be  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  unto 
the  ends  of  the  earth."  We  know  this  passage  is 
usually  applied  to  Christ,  to  which  we  make  no 
objection.  But  will  you  restrict  it  to  him?  If  so, 
you  greatly  diminish  the  universal  triumphs  of  his 
reign.  We  are  taught  that  his  sway  shall  be  il- 
limitable, and  every  knee  shall  bow  and  pay  hom- 
age to  him.  But  the  passage  before  us  is  a  clear 
territorial  grant,  issued  by  Divine  authority,  and 
must  mark  the  boundaries  of  Israel  that  was  to 
come.  The  geographical  description  can  be  found 
applicable  to  no  other  country  but  ours.  Here  the 
grant  finds  all  of  its  metes  and  bounds.  "  From 
6 


58  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

sea  to  sea:"  from  the  Atlantic  to  tlie  Pacific 
Ocean.  "And  from  the  river:"  the  Mississippi, 
the  father  of  waters,  with  its  sixty  thousand  miles 
of  tributary  navigation,  and  the  incalculable  ton- 
nage of  its  transports.  "Unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth:"  to  the  most  remote  promontories  in  the 
North,  and  to  Terra  del  Fuego  and  Cape  Horn  in 
the  South.  We  must  be  excused  from  dwelling 
further  on  the  emigration  that  was  to  come  to  this 
land.  These  predictions  are  very  numerous  and 
wonderfully  accurate — inspired  predictions,  that 
never  have  been  realized,  and  never  can  be,  unless 
they  are  fulfilled  in  the  New  World.  We  will, 
however,  notice  one  other. 

"Behold,  these  shall  come  from  far;  and,  lo, 
these  from  the  North  and  from  the  West;  and 
these  from  the  land  of  Sinim."  Isa.  xlix,  12. 
Now,  all  commentators  agree  that  "Sinim"  is 
China.  The  fact  is,  it  was  its  true  ancient  name  : 
Tliinim,  Thina,  or  China.  It  is  so  put  down  in 
the  ancient  maps.  And  China  lies  "north"  and 
"west,"  or  north-west  of  us.  In  the  message  of 
Ex-Governor  Bigler,  of  California,  some  two  years 
ago,  it  is  there  published  that  there  were  then 
some  sixty  thousand  Chinese  in  that  State.  Now, 
no   commentator  questions  that   this   passage  de- 


DEFENCE    OF     ARMAGEDDON.  59 

scribes  emigration  comiug  to  the  land  of  restored 
Israel,  for  the  whole  context  confirms  it.  But 
how  are  the  Chinese  to  come  from  China  to  Pales- 
tine and  come  from  the  north-iuest"?  It  is  impossi- 
ble. Here  is  a  promise  made  of  emigration  from  a 
distant  country,  whose  inhabitants  have"  never 
been  known  to  mingle  with  other  nations;  here 
their  true  ancient  name  is  given ;  here  is  the  very 
direction  which  they  were  to  come ;  and  here  is  a 
fulfilment  upon  a  most  magnificent  scale.  Perfect 
coincidence  being  perfect  fulfilment,  our  position  is 
demonstration. 

Sixth.  The  land  of  restored  Israel  is  described 
as  a  country  restored  from  its  desolations,  by  the  pe- 
culiar construction  of  its  towns  and  villages,  and  the 
prosperity  and  quietude  of  its  inhabitants. 

In  the  invasion  of  this  land,  at  the  last  great 
battle,  by  Russia  and  the  autocracy  of  the  Old 
World,  the  prophet  thus  addresses  the  power  that 
leads  that  invasion:  "After  many  days  thou  shalt 
be  visited:  thou  shalt  come  into  the  land  that  is 
gathered  out  of  many  people,  against  the  moun- 
tains of  Israel,  which  have  been  always  waste;  but 
it  is  brought  out  of  the  nations,  and  they  shall 
dwell  safely  all  of  them.  .  '.  Thou  shalt  say,  I 
will  go  up  to  the  land  of  unwalled  villages ;  I  will 


60  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

go  to  them  that  are  at  rest,  that  dwell  safely,  all 
of  them  dwelling  without  walls,  and  having  nei- 
ther hars  nor  gates.  To  take  a  spoil,  and  to  take  a 
prey ;  to  turn  thy  hand  upon  the  desolate  places 
that  are  now  inhabited,  and  upon  the  people  that 
are  gathered  out  of  the  nations;  which  have  gotten 
cattle  and  goods,  that  dwell  in  the  midst  of  the 
land."     Ezek.  xxxviii,  8,  11,  12. 

Here,  my  countrymen,  is  almost  a  daguerreotype 
portraiture  of  your  own  land.  We  very  much 
question  whether  Ezekiel  the  prophet  ever  saw  an 
''"unwalled"  city  in  his  life.  Surely,  if  old  Pales- 
tine is  to  he  brought  back  again  to  her  more  than 
ancient  splendor,  ''un walled"  cities  and  villages 
will  not  be  found  there.  This  passage,  therefore, 
can  never  be  applied  to  Judea ;  for  all  her  cities 
were  walled,  from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem.  This  re- 
markable description  of  the  numerous  villages  and 
cities,  and  the  possessions,  prosperity,  and  security 
of  the  people,  is  a  grand  and  graphic  delineation 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  of  no  other 
country  on  earth. 

Seventh.  The  infancy  of  that  country  should  re- 
ceive the  attention  of  royal  patronage:  "Kings 
shall  be  thy  nursing  fathers,  and  queens  thy  nurs- 
ing  mothers."      How  very  remarkably   this  has 


DEFENCE     OF    ARMAGEDDON.  61 

been  realized  will  occur  to  the  mind  at  once.  The 
term  "nursing"  applies  to  infancy.  And  it  was 
in  the  early  history  of  our  people  that  the  super- 
vision of  royalty  was  exercised  over  us.  The 
names  of  several  of  the  old  thirteen  States,  besides 
many  counties  and  towns,  still  perpetuate  the  re- 
collection of  royalty  :  G-eorgia  and  Virginia,  Mary- 
land and  the  Carolinas,  as  well  as  King  and  Queen 
and  King  William  counties.  Prince  George,  Prince 
Edward,  and  prince  we  don't  know  what  else — 
names  that  will  for  ever  perpetuate  the  fulfilment 
of  prophecy  in  what  might  otherwise  seem  to  be 
only  accidental. 

Eighth.  A  country  remarkable  for  the  number  of 
its  majestic  rivers. 

"But  there  the  glorious  Lord  will  be  unto  us  a 
place  of  broad  rivers  and  streams  ;  wherein  shall  go 
no  galley  with  oars,  neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass 
thereby."  Isa.  xxxiii,  21.  This  passage  from  the 
prophet  is  admitted  to  refer  alone  to  the  land  of  re- 
stored Israel.  But  if  that  land  be  Palestine,  how 
are  we  to  see  the  force  of  its  meaning  ?  Can  the 
river  Jordan  and  the  rivulet  Kedron  answer  the 
grandeur  of  this  description  ?  Certainly  not.  But 
the  many  mighty  and  majestic  rivers  in  our  own 
country  fill  up  the  prophetic  map  upon  a  sublime 
6* 


62  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

and  magnificent  scale.  By  the  expression,  '*  there 
the  glorious  Lord  will  be  unto  us  a  place  of,"  etc., 
we  understand  that  he  will  guarantee  that  descrip- 
tion of  country  to  the  nation  he  would  raise  up. 
"Wherein  shall  go  no  galley  with  oars,"  is  very 
singular.  The  Hebrew  word,  translated  "galley," 
literally  signifies  a  government  clipper,  sent  out  by 
a  superior  kingdom  to  exact  port-dues  from  a  de- 
pendent people.  The  loss  of  the  tea-cargo  in  Boston 
harbor  fully  illustrates  this  subject ;  while  the  very 
genius  of  our  independence,  in  the  days  of  Andrew 
Jackson^  was  stamped  upon  a  medal :  "Millions  for 
defence,  hut  not  one  cent  for  tribute." 

Ninth.  The  land  of  restored  Israel  is  described  to 
be  literally  more  elevated  than  any  portion  of  the 
world. 

"  The  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be 
established  upon  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  and  all 
nations  shall  flow  to  it."  The  willful  king  of  the 
North  says  in  his  proclamation  of  war  against  us : 
"I  will  go  up  to  the  land  of  unwalled  villages." 
Lieutenant  Maury  has  shown,  in  one  of  his  late 
learned  works,  that  the  United  States  of  America 
is  the  higliest  part  of  the  visible  earth,  and  that  it 
is  down  stream  from  the  ports  of  our  country  to 
every  other  continent  and  island  on  the  globe.    But 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  63 

if  this  elevation  must  be  morally  and  intellectually 
understood,  and  not  literally,  still,  the  realization 
being  as  perfect  in  the  one  case  as  in  tbe  otber,  our 
argument  remains  conclusive. 

Tenth.  The  peaceful  character  of  the  inhahit- 
ants,  and  the  intellicjibiliiy  and  uniformity  of  their 
language,  should  designate  that  people. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  see  a  fierce  people,  of  a  deeper 
speech  than  thou  canst  perceive  ;  of  a  stammering 
tongue,  that  thou  canst  not  understand."  Isa. 
xxxiii. 

Polite  manners  and  gentle  dej)ortment  every 
where  characterize  the  American  people  :  this  is  a 
world-wide  acknowledgment,  so  that  the  solitary 
exceptions  are  gloated  over  by  the  detracting  prints 
of  roving  authors  as  morsels  too  precious  to  be  erased 
from  their  journals.  But  the  uniformity  and  intel- 
ligibility of  our  language  is  indeed  most  extraordi- 
nary. Although  teeming  thousands  are  constantly 
pouring  into  our  communities  from  the  Germanic 
States,  France,  and  other  countries,  our  pure  ver- 
nacular Anglo-Saxon  will  conduct  you  safely  through 
any  portion  of  our  vast  domain.  And  it  is  now 
contended,  by  those  competent  to  judge,  that  the 
English  language  is  more  correctly  spoken  in  the 
wilds  of  America  than  at  tlie  court  of  St.  James — 


64  DEFENCE    OP     ARMAGEDDON. 

more  accurately  pronounced  in  our  primary  schools 
than  in  the  British  Parliament.  We  do  not  ques- 
tion their  intelligence  nor  their  energy,  but  Ameri- 
cans speak  the  English  language  better  than  the 
English  themselves.  Should  the  pride  of  an  Al- 
bion tempt  him  to  deny  it,  just  put  him  upon  his 
trial  with  any  word  where  the  consonant  h  is  to  be 
supplied  or  omitted — the  monosyllable  hell,  for  in- 
stance— and  if  he  be  not  satisfied  with  an  attempt 
to  spell  and  pronounce  it,  you  may  give  him  up  as 
incorrigible. 

Eleventh.  The  rapid  advancement  of  intelligence 
and  divine  instruction  should  mark  the  rising  prog- 
ress of  that  people. 

''  Many  shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  be 
increased."  "All  thy  children  shall  be  taught  of 
the  Lord,  and  great  shall  be  the  peace  of  thy  chil- 
dren." What  nation  presents  such  a  spectacle  at 
this  very  moment  as  the  United  States  ?  Our  lite- 
rary institutions  are  scattered  all  over  the  land,  so 
that  the  humblest  poor  may  be  enriched  with  the 
treasures  of  science  ;  while  millions  of  sheets  in 
the  republic  of  letters  pour  floods  of  light  upon, 
the  human  mind.  Here  the  press  is  free,  that 
mighty  enginery  of  thought,  guarding  the  majesty 
of  law  and  the  inviolable  sanctity  of  the  Constitu- 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  65 

tion.  Here  the  pulpit,  unawed  by  the  terrors  of 
the  throne  or  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  in  tones 
of  power  and  tongues  of  flame,  proclaims  ''  the  ac- 
ceptable year  of  the  Lord,"  and  preaches  glad 
tidings  to  the  poor.  Here  the  word  of  God  is  an 
unchained  book  ;  and,  like  the  sun  in  mid-heaven, 
rifts  the  clouds  that  mantle  the  world,  shedding  a 
strong  and  steady  light  upon  the  shadowy  mansions 
of  the  dead,  inspiring  the  living  with  the  ecstatic 
hope  that  our  loved  and  our  lost  shall  awake  from 
their  dusty  beds  in  the  last  glorious  morning. 

Twelfth.  The  country  inhabited  by  the  people 
*'  gathered  out  of  the  nations  "  should  be  settled  in 
thirteen  distinct  States,  like  as  it  was  with  Israel ; 
only  ""Joseph  should  have  two  portions." 

"  Ye  shall  inherit  the  land  according  to  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel :  Joseph  shall  have  two  por- 
tions." Ezek.  xlvii,  13.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  although  the  Jews  had  but  twelve  tribes,  the 
portion  falling  to  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  children 
of  Joseph,  being  divided,  made  them  a  confederacy 
of  thirteen  states  or  tribes.  It  is  also  just  as  re- 
markable, that  in  the  beginning  we  had  but  twelve 
States  ;  and  Willian  Penn  held  the  charter  of  Penn- 
sylvania for  twenty  years  before  he  obtained  that 
of   Delaware,   and  then   we   had   thirteen   States 


66  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

also.  But  the  coincidence  in  the  boundaries  of  the 
thirteen  states  of  restored  Israel  with  those  of  the 
old  thirteen  United  States,  is  still  more  remarkable. 
The  prophet  gives  the  eastern  border  of  each  tribe 
to  be  the  eastern  sea,  and  the  western  border  of 
each  tribe  to  be  the  great  loestern  sea.  (See  Ezek. 
xlvii.)  Wilson,  and  perhaps  Bancroft,  affirm, 
that  the  original  charters  of  the  thirteen  United 
States  called  for  the  Atlantic  or  eastern  ocean  for 
their  eastern  boundary,  and  the  Pacific  or  the  great 
western  ocean  for  their  western  boundary,  in  almost 
so  many  words. 

It  is  not  a  little  amusing  to  see  the  perplexity  of 
the  great  and  good  Dr.  Clarke,  in  attempting  to 
map  the  land  of  restored  Israel.  He  lays  liis  plot, 
of  course,  in  the  territory  of  old  Palestine.  He 
bounds  his  thirteen  lots  by  the  Mediterranean  or 
western  ocean,  but,  for  the  life  of  the  learned  Doc- 
tor, he  can  find  no  eastern  sea  for  his  eastern  bor- 
der. The  little  Dead  Sea  lies  across  three  of  the 
tribes,  but  does  not  bound  any  one  of  them  !  Ex- 
amine his  map,  at  the  close  of  his  commentary 
on  Ezekiel,  and  you  will  find,  for  want  of  an  east- 
ern sea,  ancient  Judea  can  never  be  the  country  of 
Israel  restored. 

Thirteenth.     Our  country  is  the  land  described 
by  the  prophet  Isaiah  lying  westward  from  Judea, 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  6Y 

''  Woe  to  the  land  shadowing  with  wings,  which 
is  beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia,  that  sendeth  mes- 
sengers by  the  sea,  even  in  vessels  of  bulrushes^ 
saying,  Go,  ye  swift  messengers,  to  a  nation  scat- 
tered and  peeled,  to  a  people  terrible  from  their 
beginning  hitherto  :  a  nation  meted  out  and  trod- 
den down,  whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled." 
Isa.  xviii,  1,  2. 

The  word  ''woe"  is  not  a  malediction  here, 
being  lioi  erets  in  Hebrew,  a  particle  of  hailing  ; 
and  authorizes  us  to  read,  "  All  hail,  thou  land 
shadowing  with  wings."  But  where  is  that  land? 
From  Judea,  the  stand-point  of  the  prophet,  it  is 
"beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia."  Where  are  the 
rivers  of  Ethiopia?  The  Nile  audits  tributaries. 
What  country  and  what  people  do  we  find  beyond 
the  Nile  from  Judea  ?  The  land  is  a  barren  des- 
ert, and  the  wandering  Bedouins  the  only  human 
beings  that  pass  through  it.  Then  we  must  look 
for  another  country  and  another  people,  but  in  the 
same  direction,  for  that  is  specific.  You  will  find 
no  other  land  or  people  on  that  line  of  latitude  un- 
til you  strike  the  United  States  of  America  about 
the  coasts  of  Carolina.  Should  it  be  contended 
that  Western  Africa  was  not  the  ancient  Ethiopia, 
but  the   country    inhabited   by  the    Cushites    or 


68  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

children  of  Cusli,  very  well ;  they  extended  east- 
wardly  until  the  Ganges,,  the  Indus,  and  the  Bur- 
rampooter  were  their  rivers ;  and  beyond  these  from 
Judea  you  come  direct  to  the  North  American  con- 
tinent across  the  Pacific.  So  that,  in  either  case, 
"  the  land  beyond  the  rivers  "  of  modern  or  ancient 
Ethiopia  from  Judea  is  America.  Its  description 
— ''aland  shadowing  with  wings" — might  refer 
to  the  geographical  conformation  of  the  new  conti- 
nent, for  a  large  map  of  North  and  South  America 
very  much  resembles  the  expanded  wings  of  a 
great  eagle ;  or  it  may  be  suggestive  of  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  country  shadowed  or  concealed  from 
the  cupidity  of  the  nations  till  Grod  was  ready  for 
its  discovery.  Or  was  it  not  designed  as  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  country,  the  national  Eegis  of  whose  people 
should  be  an  eagle,  whose  pinions  should  spread 
from  shore  to  shore?  The  "swift  ships"  and 
""vessels  of  bulrushes  "  are  peculiarly  descriptive 
of  our  fleets  of  commerce,  as  light  water-crafts  of 
this  material  were  anciently  used  upon  the  Nile. 

This  land  was  originally  possessed  by  "  a  people 
hitherto  terrible  from  the  beginning."  Such  is  a 
true  description  of  the  fierce  and  warlike  aborigi- 
nes who  were  found  in  this  new  world.  "  A  people 
scattered  and  peeled : ' '  broken  up  into  numerous 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  69 

tribes,  dispersed  witliout  order  over  the  wliole 
country,  and  wasted  by  continual  wars,  were  fast 
waning  and  melting  away.  ''  Meted  out  and  trod- 
den down:"  driven  from  one  part  of  the  country 
to  another,  first  located  in  one  defined  territory  and 
then  in  another  ;  oppressed,  maltreated^  and  mur- 
dered. ''Whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled:" 
they  being  the  original  claimants  and  proprietors 
of  a  country  extensive  in  its  domain  and  rich  in  its 
alluvial  lands,  through  which  majestic  rivers  are 
ever  changing  their  mighty  channels. 

This  prophetic  delineation  of  our  country  can 
have  no  other  meaning  or  application.  And 
learned  commentators,  never  having  dreamed  that 
America  was  the  subject  of  prophecy,  acknowledge 
as  does  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  especially,  "that  this  is 
the  most  obscure  passage  in  the  whole  book  of  Isa- 
iah." Our  interpretation  is  certainly  legitimate  ; 
while  the  facts  and  the  fulfilment  should  awaken 
our  attention  and  enkindle  our  admiration. 

Fourteenth.  But  the  promised  nationality  was  to 
be  a  republic. 

"  Their  nobles  shall  be  of  themselves,  and  their 

governor  shall  proceed  from  the  midst  of  them." 

Jer.   XXX,   21.     The  people  should  be  "gathered 

together,  and  appoint  unto  themselves  one  head." 

7 


70 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON, 


Hos.  i,  11,  "I  will  restore  tliy  judges  as  at  the 
first,  and  thy  counsellors  as  at  the  beginning." 
Isa.  i,  26.  Observe,  -'one  head" — a  chief  magis- 
trate apj)ointed  by  the  people — governors,  judges, 
and  counsellors,  taken  from  the  masses  of  the 
people,  are  particularly  promised,  but  no  king. 

The  political  economy  of  ancient  Israel  being 
a  theocratic  republic,  the  promise  in  the  passages 
is,  that  the  officers  necessary  to  constitute  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government  would  be  restored,  and 
the  elective  franchise  would  be  free,  and  the  people 
would  possess  the  sovereign  right  of  choosing 
their  own  rulers  and  judges.  Surely,  the  doctrine 
of  the  Divine  right  of  kings  finds  no  authority 
here  ;  for  the  power  invested  in  the  people  is 
entirely  inconsistent  with  any  grade  of  monarchy, 
limited  or  absolute. 

The  truth  is,  the  fifth  great  commonwealth  that 
the  God  of  heaven  was  to  "  set  up,"  was  so  utterly 
repugnant  to  monarchy,  in  all  its  forms  and  phases, 
that  it  should  destroy  it  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
And  we  have  every  assurance  that  if  the  Almighty 
designed  to  bless  a  people  by  conferring  upon  them 
a  i^articular  form  of  political  government,  such  form 
could  not  possibly  be  a  monarchy. 

A  most  memorable  instance  of  the  Divine  disap- 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  71 

probation  of  the  establishment  of  an  earthly  king 
among  men  is  recorded  at  the  coronation  of  the  first 
monarch  of  Israel.  Said  Almighty  God  to  Samuel 
the  prophet,  ^^ Protest  solemnly  unto  them,  and  show 
unto  them  the  manner  of  the  king  that  shall  reign 
over  them.  He  will  take  your  sons,  and  appoint 
them  for  himself,  for  his  chariots,  and  to  be  his 
horsemen  ;  and  some  shall  run  before  his  chariots. 
And  he  will  take  your  daughters  to  be  confectiona- 
ries,  and  to  be  cooks,  and  to  be  bakers.  And  he 
will  take  your  fields,  and  your  vineyards,  and  your 
olive-yards,  even  the  best  of  them,  and  give  them 
to  his  servants.  And  he  will  take  the  tenth  of  your 
seed,  and  of  your  vineyards,  and  give  them  to  his 
oflScers,  and  to  his  servants.  And  he  will  take  your 
men-servants,  and  your  maid-servants,  and  your 
goodliest  young  men,  and  your  asses,  and  put  them 
to  work.  He  will  take  the  tenth  of  your  sheep; 
and  ye  shall  be  his  servants.  And  ye  shall  cry  out 
in  that  day  because  of  your  king,  and  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  you  in  that  day."  1  Sam.  viii,  9-18. 
Such  is  the  solemn  protestation  of  the  God  of  heaven 
against  an  earthly  monarchy  ;  and  faithfully  has 
the  history  of  earthly  kings  confirmed  the  truth  of 
the  Divine  prediction.  Then  it  is  absolutely  cer- 
tain that  a  political  government,  selected  and  "  set 


72  DEFENCE  OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

up  "  lor  the  sons  of  men  by  Jehovah,  would  not  be 
a  monarchy.  But  this  very  fifth  government  was 
to  be  ' '  set  up  "  by  the  God  of  heaven ;  therefore 
the  fifth  government,  not  being  in  any  possible  case 
a  monarchy  in  any  grade,  must  be  a  republic. 

Fifteenth  and  finally.  The  waiting  isles  of  Isaiah 
are  a  sublime  announcement  of  our  great  country, 
and  its  early  occupation  by  European  emigrants. 
"  Surely,  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships 
of  Tarshish  first,  to  bring  my  sons  from  far,  their 
silver  and  their  gold  with  them,  unto  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel." 

Diodorus  Siculus,  a  most  reliable  historian  of  the 
Augustin  age,  says  that  ''the  term  'isles,'  in  his 
time,  primarily  meant  undiscovered  lands  supposed 
to  exist  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean."  The  word  "  Tar- 
shish," according  to  Strabo,  refers  to  Tartessus, 
formerly  a  seaport  city  of  that  name,  situated  on 
the  site  where  Cadiz  now  stands,  in  Old  Spain,  near 
the  pillars  of  Hercules.  And  Mr.  Benson,  perhaps 
the  most  accurate  commentator  on  the  ancient 
geography  of  the  Scriptures,  says  that  "  this  opin- 
ion is  now  generally  adopted  by  the  learned." 

With  this  explanation  of  terms,  let  us  read  the 
passage:  "Surely,  the  undiscovered  lands  in  the 
western  sea  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Old 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  73 

Spain  shall  be  first  to  bring  my  sons  from  far,  their 
silver  and  their  gold  with  them/'  etc. 

Here  we  have  the  fact  announced,  that  the  coun- 
try spoken  of  had  hitherto  been  an  undiscovered 
country,  and  the  reason  assigned  why  it  should 
have  remained  concealed  so  long — "  shall  wait  for 
me" — unknown  and  unexplored,  until  God,  in  his 
supervision  of  the  nations,  was  ready  for  its  occu- 
pation. "Wait  for"  God,  until  the  Eeformation 
in  Europe  had  neutralized  the  friends  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  :  until  the  great  principle  of  self- 
government  should  move  the  masses  of  the  people 
to  seek  a  new  theatre  to  realize  the  blessings  of 
popular  freedom — wait  until  the  facilities  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  improvement,  the  invention  of 
printing,  and  the  freedom  of  the  pulpit,  should 
arise  as  the  powerful  auxiliaries  of  an  enlightened 
republican  nation.  "And  the  ships  of  Old  Spain 
shall  be  first,  to  bring  my  sons  from  far."  And 
were  not  the  ships  of  Spain  Jirst  in  the  discovery 
and  opening  up  of  emigration  to  the  New  World  ? 
After  being  repulsed  from  every  court  in  Europe  to 
which  he  appealed,  was  not  Columbus  sanctioned 
and  sustained  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  his  ex- 
pedition? "  To  bring  my  sons  from  far."  Now, 
remember  this  passage  cannot  apply  to  the  spread 
7* 


•74  DBFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

of  the  gospel,  for  the  tidings  of  salvation  are  sent 
out  to  heathen  lands  ;  but  here  the  sons  of  Grod  are 
represented  as  being  transported  from  their  original 
homes  to  a  newly  discovered  country.  It  cannot 
refer  to  Judea,  for  that  was  not  an  undiscovered 
country,  and  the  ships  of  Spain  never  have  brought_, 
and  never  can  bring,  its  first  emigration  to  people 
it.  "  Their  silver  and  their  gold  with  them  :"  that 
they  might  make  that  land  their  permanent  home, 
bringing  their  treasure  with  them.  But  the  great 
motive  of  their  emigration  deserves  special  attention. 
They  were  to  come  for  the  privilege  of  worshiping 
God  ''  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  Grod,  and  to 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  Our  noble  ancestry, 
driven  by  the  storms  of  jjersecution  from  the  Old 
World,  sought  a  refuge  in  the  New.  When  the 
minions  of  monarchy  invaded  the  Southern  hemi- 
sphere, it  was  for  the  sake  of  gold.  The  Portuguese 
in  Brazil,  Cortez  in  Mexico,  and  Pizarro  in  Peru, 
took  possession  of  those  countries  in  the  names  of 
the  majesties  of  their  respective  governments.  But 
when  the  Huguenots,  the  Quakers,  and  the  Puritans 
came  to  America,  they  took  possession  of  these 
lands  in  the  name  of  Almighty  God. 

"  Not  as  the  conquerors  come, 
They  the  true-hearted  came  : 
Not  with  the  roll  of  the  stirring  drum, 
Or  the  trumpet  that  sings  of  fame. 


DEFENCEOFARMAGEDDON.  75 

"  Not  as  the  tlying  come, 
lu  silence  and  in  fear  : 
They  shook  the  depths  of  the  desert  gloom 
With  their  hymns  of  lofty  cheer. 

"  Amid  the  storm  they  sang, 

And  the  stars  heard  and  the  sea  ; 
And  the  waiting  isles  of  promise  rang 
With  the  anthems  of  the  free. 

"  The  ocean  eagle  soared 

From  his  nest  by  the  white  wave's  foam  ; 
And  the  rocking  pines  of  the  forest  roared. 
This  is  your  welcome  home. 

"•What  sought  they  thus  afar? 
Bright  jewels  of  the  mine  ? 
The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war? 
They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine. 

"  Ah,  call  it  holy  ground. 

The  spot  where  first  they  trod  : 
They've  left  unstained  what  there  they  found. 
Freedom  to  worship  God." 

To  review  the  history  of  our  great  nation  is  but 
to  trace  the  wonderful  providence  of  God.  Look  at 
the  very  men  who  directed  and  guarded  the  infancy 
of  our  republic;  Avhether  in  the  cabinet  or  in  the 
camp,  whether  in  the  national  council  or  on  foreign 
diplomacy,  "their  like  we  shall  never  see  again." 
For  this  very  end  they  seemed  to  have  been  born  ; 
and  they  evidently  believed  in  their  Divine  desti- 
nation. 


76  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

There  was  a  time  when  darkness  shrouded  the 
breath  of  heaven  ;  not  one  gleam  of  light  nor  a 
solitary  star  was  seen  struggling  through  the  dim 
distance.  Congress  paused  under  the  dreadful 
gloom,  when  it  was  agreed  to  submit  their  cause  to 
the  arbitration  of  Heaven.  A  day  of  solemn  fasting 
and  prayer  was  proposed  :  instantly  the  resolution 
passed  with  deep  emotion.  The  council-chamber 
was  closed ;  grave  senators  retired  in  silence,  per- 
sonally to  engage  in  fervent  prayer  ;  holy  ministers 
of  God  at  the  altar,  and  pious  women,  with  their 
babes  pressed  to  their  bosoms,  lifted  their  streaming 
eyes  to  heaven  ;  while  Washington  was  on  his 
knees^  when  "a.  nation  was  born  at  once" — born 
on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1776. 

Preserved  as  "an  handful  of  corn  scattered  on 
the  summit  of  the  mountains,  a  little  one  has  be- 
comea  thousand,  and  a  small  one  a  strong  nation." 
"It  is  the  Lord's  doings,  and  marvelous  in  our 
eyes;"  for,  according  to  his  promise,  "the  Lord 
has  hastened  it  in  his  time." 

0  happy  America  !  O  favored  children  of  the 
free  !  when  will  the  great  heart  of  thy  mighty  peo- 
ple fully  know  God  and  the  salvation  of  his  Son  ? 
"  Then  Gentiles  and  kings  shall  see  thy  glory,  and 
thou   shalt   be  called  by  a  new  name,  which  the 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  TT 

mouth  of  the  Lord  shall  name.  Thou  shalt  no 
more  he  termed  Forsaken  ;  neither  shall  thy  land 
any  more  be  termed  Desolate :  hut  thou  shall  be 
called  Hephzi-bah,  and  thy  land  Beulah :  for  the 
Lord  delighteth  in  thee."  Then  shall  thy  glory 
continue;  for  ''Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down, 
neither  shall  thy  moon  withdraw  itself;  for  the 
Lord  shall  be  thine  everlasting  light,  and  the  days 
of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended." 


®Ije  Rattle  of  ^rmagebUii, 

OR 

THE    world's    last    CONFLICT    BETWEEN    CIVIL  AND   RELIGIOUS 
LIBERTY  ON  THE  ONE  SIDE,  AND  POLITICAL  AND  ECCLE- 
SIASTICAL DESPOTISM  ON  THE  OTHER. 


The  voice  of  tlie  prophetic  Scriptures  frequently 
and  fully  announces  the  warfare  of  the  world. — 
Preparation  for  ages  has  anticipated  the  struggle  ; 
"while  the  clangor  of  its  trumpets  is  almost  heard 
marshaling  its  millions  to  the  charge. 

It  is  as  true  as  destiny  ;  and  the  gathering  storm 
is  rising.  In  the  volume  of  inspiration  it  is  term- 
ed, "The  Battle  of  Gog,"  " The  Battle  of  Arma- 
geddon," and  "The  Battle  of  that  great  day  of 
God  Almighty." 

It  is  symbolized  by  Daniel  in  the  smiting  of  the 
monarchical  image  by  the  mountain-stone  ;  by  the 
casting  down  of  the  thrones  before  the  Ancient  of 
days  ;  by  the  destruction  of  the  willful  king  upon 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  79 

the  mountains  of  Israel,  wliea  he  shall  "  plant  the 
tabernacles  of  his  palace  between  the  two  seas." 
It  is  Michael  and  his  angels  warring  with  the  dra- 
gon and  his  angels;  it  is  the  conquest  won  by  the 
man  on  a  white  horse,  who  was  "crowned  with 
many  crowns  ;"  it  is  the  taking  of  "  the  beast  and 
the  false  prophet ;"  it  is  the  reaping  the  harvest  of 
■the  world  and  the  gathering  of  the  vintage  of  the 
earth.  It  is  literally  described  by  Ezekiel,  when 
the  chief  prince  of  Meshech,  Gomer,  Tubal,  and 
Magog,  with  the  multitudinous  hosts  from  Persia_, 
Ethiopia,  and  Libya,  invades  "the  land  of  unwalled 
villages."  It  is  the  immense  armament  described 
by  Joel  when  he  exclaims,  "  Multitudes !  mul- 
titudes in  the  valley  of  decision  !"  It  is  described 
by  the  Saviour  to  be  "a  time  of  trouble  such  as 
never  shall  be  till  that  day."  It  is  the  "  gathering 
together  of  the  kings  and  nations  of  the  earth  to 
the  battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty." 

Such,  my  countrymen,  are  some  of  the  unques- 
tionable and  sublime  allusions  in  the  many,  very 
many  Divine  declarations  that  announce  the  grand 
and  terrible  catastrophe  —  declarations  that  the 
clearest  acumen  and  most  direct  philosophy  of  lan- 
guage must  legitimately  apply  to  the  rapidly  ap- 
proaching tempest. 


80  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

Nevertheless,  like  all  other  truths  of  the  inspired 
volume,  however  overwhelming  the  sublimity  of 
the  theme,  no  violence  is  offered  to  reason,  nor  un- 
necessary embargo  imposed  upon  the  faith  of  mor- 
tals. 

What  subject  could  possibly  enlist  a  world  in 
arms,  if,  it  be  not  the  principle  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty  ?  All  other  questions,  however  vital 
and  important,  are  but  local  in  their  influence,  and 
their  weightiest  results  must  necessarily  be  sec- 
tional. But  the  principle  of  popular  freedom  is 
capable  of  universal  diffusion,  and  must  ultimately 
be  commensurate  with  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
It  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our  being,  and  forms 
the  very  texture  and  fabric  of  human  nature  :  nay, 
the  very  law  of  our  great  Creator,  and  every  spe- 
cification growing  out  of  that  law,  bear  directly 
upon  this  twofold  principle.  To  love  God  and  our 
neighbor  plainly  indicates  the  foundation  of  all 
true  order  in  the  governmental  codes  of  the  earth. 
Freedom  to  worship  God,  and  equitable  reciproci- 
ties amongst  our  fellow-creatures :  wherever  these 
first  and  great  commandments  are  disregarded  by 
the  governments  on  earth,  monarchy,  absolutism, 
or  anarchy  is  found  to  exist ;  and  this  form  of  go- 
vernment being  unfriendly  to  the  free  worship  of 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  81 

the  true  God,  and  a  usurpation  of  the  prerogatives 
of  a  people  to  govern  themselves,  always  has  heen, 
and  ever  will  be,  an  uncompromising  enemy  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  until  it  is  annihilated 
from  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

True,  both  principles  are  aggressive,  and  must 
continue  to  enlarge  their  bounds  until  a  final  col- 
lision must  exterminate  the  one  or  the  other. 

The  outbreaks  in  ages  past  were  only  occasional 
or  accidental ;  still,  even  in  those  times  monarchy 
always  reconnoitred  with  a  sleepless  vigilance 
every  demonstration  of  popular  freedom  ;  and  the 
genius  of  Republicanism  has  ever  been  prompt  to 
prove  its  utter,  uncompromising  hostility  to  mon- 
archy. But  in  those  ages  the  world  was  too  far 
apart,  the  knowledge  of  the  nations  too  limited, 
and  their  contact  with  one  another  so  seldom,  that 
they  seemed  to  live  in  comparative  indifference  to 
one  another.  But  now,  since  intellectual  and 
moral  light  is  reaching  every  shore  ;  commerce 
spreading  every  where  ;  the  formal  representatives 
of  all  nations  at  the  world's  fairs,  in  London,  New 
York,  and  Paris  ;  since  the  wonderful  discoveries 
of  gold  in  California  and  Australia,  bringing  the 
nations  together  ;  and  since  the  facilities  for  travel 
by  land  and  b}''  sea^  and  the  intercommunication  of 


82  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

the  magnetic  telegraph — the  world  has  come  into 
such  immediate  proximity,  the  great  issue  must 
come  off.  The  hostile  forms  of  government  are 
now  clearly  defined  and  well  understood  ;  and  the 
two  geniuses,  like  two  Caesars,  cannot  live  in  the 
same  world  together  much  longer.  For  if  Kepub- 
licanism  he  a  failure,  it  will  he  overthrown  ;  and 
if  Absolutism  be  offensive  to  God,  and  an  outrage 
upon  the  people,  its  days  are  destined  to  he  num- 
bered. 

The  truth,  as  announced  in  the  Bible,  of  the 
coming  conflict,  has  always  been  received  in  the 
Church,  because  too  obvious  to  be  questioned. 
Both  Jews  and  Christians  maintain  it  as  a  subject 
of  Divine  revelation  :  but  as  they  have  almost  in- 
variably misapplied  the  passages  that  foretold  a 
great  nationality,  by  referring  them  to  the  Jews, 
it  necessarily  led  them  to  lay  the  scene  of  the  last 
great  battle  in  the  land  of  Palestine.  That  the 
scattered  Jews  would  return  to  Judea,  and  the  na- 
tions and  kingdoms  of  the  earth  would  send  an  ar- 
mament of  millions  to  crush  out  a  handful  of  un- 
ambitious people,  whom  the  clemency  of  Christian 
countries  favored  in  their  return — how  perfectly  ri- 
diculous !  Were  all  the  Jews  on  earth  restored  to 
the  small  territory  of  Palestine,  what  temptation 


DBFENGK    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 


83 


or  provocation  could  they  offer  to  arouse  the  allied 
armies  of  earth  to  invade  them  ? 

No,  my  countrymen,  it  is  not  ancient  Jewry  that 
will  witness  this  invasion.  There  is  another  Is- 
rael, the  Israel  of  America,  that  has  given  mon- 
archy more  disquietude  than  ancient  Israel  ever  did 
in  all  its  glory.  And  here  alone  monarchy  will 
find  a  foeman  worthy  of  its  steel,  and  the  only 
nation  on  the  globe  that  can  measure  arms  with 
kings. 

Twice  in  the  very  infancy  of  our  nation's  history 
the  proudest  empire  on  the  face  of  the  earth  had 
to  pay  an  involuntary  obeisance  to  the  chivalry  of 
our  army.  But  now  that  the  young  eaglet  is  fully 
fledged,  and  cleaves  the  heights  of  heaven,  it  might 
be  indiscreet  to  provoke  the  glance  of  his  eye  or 
the  thunder  of  his  pinions.     So  at  least  we  think. 

We  shall  first  notice  the  preparatory  movements 
that  will  finally  marshal  the  allied  hosts  to  battle  : 

"And  the  sixth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon 
the  great  river  Euphrates ;  and  the  water  thereof 
was  dried  up,  that  the  way  of  the  kings  of  the  east 
might  be  prepared.  And  I  saw  three  unclean 
spirits  like  frogs  come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  beast,  and  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet.     For  they  are 


84  DEFENCE    OF    .ARMAGEDDON. 

the  spirits  of  devils,  working  miracles,  which  go 
forth  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  of  the  whole 
world,  to  gather  them  to  the  battle  of  that  great 
day  of  God  Almighty.  .  .  And  he  gathered  them 
together  into  a  place  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue 
Armageddon." 

Now,  observe,  whatever  may  be  the  meaning  of 
the  sublime  events  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  pas- 
sage, they  must  relate  to  the  preparatory  measures 
that  bring  on  the  battle  of  that  great  day. 

Let  uSj  then,  examine  the  quotation  by  the  most 
reliable  rules  of  interpretation .  A  ''river,"  in  the 
symbolic  prophecies,  according  to  the  admission  of 
the  best  commentators,  symbolizes  a  national  com- 
motion. Then,  "the  great  river  Euphrates,"  that 
swept  by  ancient  Babylon,  must  represent  a  great 
commotion  or  revolution  among  the  nations;  but 
this  scene  is  laid  under  the  sixth  vial,  which  is 
now  acknowledged  to  embrace  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century.  Well^  when  was  there  ever 
a  greater  commotion  among  the  nations  than  the 
revolutionary  upheavings  of  the  people  under  the 
genius  of  the  great  Napoleon?  But  ''the  waters 
of  that  river  were  dried  up."  This  was  done  at 
the  battle  of  Waterloo.  "  That  the  way  of  the 
kings   of  the  east  might  be  prepared."     During 


DEFENCE     OF    ARMAGEDDON.  85 

the  storm  that  was  raging  throughout  Europe  un- 
der Bonaparte,  the  allied  monarchs  that  were  uni- 
ted to  overthrow  him  found  it  very  inconvenient  to 
act  in  concert ;  but  immediately  after  Napoleon 
was  banished  to  a  distant  island,  there  was  an  as- 
semblage of  the  principal  monarchs:  Russia,  Prus- 
sia, Austria,  and  England.  Though  the  King  of 
England  could  not  be  there  in  person — for  the  old 
man  was  crazy — yet  his  regent  was  there,  and 
represented  him  in  that  conference,  that  was  called 
"The  Triple  Alliance."  This  name  may  have 
been  given  to  this  conclave  of  kings  from  the  three 
principal  monarchs  in  attendance.  But  this  '  'triple 
alliance"  has  a  stronger  claim  to  its  threefold  cha- 
racter from  the  three  doctrines,  asserted,  signed,  and 
sealed  by  this  convention  of  sovereigns.  There 
were  precisely  three  doctrines  or  principles :  Absolut- 
ism, Church  Supremacy,  and  Legitimacy,  or  the  Di- 
vine right  of  kings.  How  perfectly  fulfilled  the  pro- 
phecy !  "And  I  saw  three  unclean  spirits  like  frogs 
come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  beast^  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
false  prophet.  These  are  the  spirits  of  devils." 
The  three  dogmas  are  here  pronounced  to  be  the 
spirits  or  doctrines  of  devils.  All  doctrines  are  the 
doctrines  of  devils  that  are  opposed  by  Divine  reve- 


86  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

lation  ;  but  Absolutism,  Church  Supremacy,  and 
Divine  right  of  kings,  are  opposed  by  the  word 
of  God  ;  consequently,  the  three  doctrines  of  the 
''  Triple  Alliance"  are  the  doctrines  of  devils,  and 
specifically  fulfil  the  prophecy.  "■  Which  go  forth 
unto  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  of  the  whole  world, 
to  gather  them  together  to  the  battle  of  that  great 
day  of  God  Almighty."  These  foul  principles  re- 
presented by  unclean  frogs  will  summon  around  the 
thrones  of  monarchies  the  dupes  of  despotism,  and 
enlist  and  muster  into  service  the  countless  legions 
that  shall  compose  that  fearful  armament.  "And 
he  gathered  them  together  into  a  place  called  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue  Armageddon."  On  that  last 
great  battle-field,  the  doctrines  of  the  Triple  Alli- 
ance, with  the  hosts  of  their  deluded  defenders, 
shall  perish  for  ever. 

We  now  notice  some  of  the  symbols  of  that  final 
engagement,  the  war  itself. 

"Forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  that  the  stone  was 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands,  and  that  it 
brake  in  pieces  the  iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  the 
silver,  and  the  gold;  the  great  God  hath  made 
known  to  the  king  what  shall  come  to  pass  here- 
after: and  the  dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpreta- 
tion thereof  sure." 


DEFENCE     OF     ARiMAGliDDON.  87 

The  four  great  successive  monarchies  on  earth, 
as  seen  in  the  dream  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  have 
shown  in  our  former  address  to  be  represented  by 
the  metals  composing  the  great  image.  From  the 
first  or  golden-headed  kingdom,  the  whole  of  mon- 
archy, to  its  final  overthrow,  was  represented  ;  for 
after  the  annihilation  of  this  image,  not  the  small- 
est principle  or  fragment  should  remain.  "  Then 
was  the  iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the  silver,  and 
the  gold,  broken  to  pieces  together,  and  became 
like  the  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing-floors  ;  and 
the  wind  carried  them  away,  that  no  place  was 
found  for  them."  But  how  are  we  to  understand 
all  these  great  monarchies  to  be  destroyed  at  once, 
"  broken  to  pieces  together,"  unless  we  understand 
that  before  that  image  is  smitten  by  the  stone, 
there  must  be  a  reconstruction  of  all  the  principles 
and  powers,  glory  and  grandeur,  weakness  and 
wickedness,  embodied  in  the  corporate  image,  and 
represented  by  the  different  metals.  Such  an  ac- 
cumulation of  all  the  principles  of  monarchy,  in 
some  colossal  giant  of  autocracy,  must  appear  in 
huge  embodiment:  "the  form  thereof,"  like  its 
symbol,  will  be  ''terrible."  Now,  as  we  have 
plainly  proved  that  the  stone  or  fifth  kingdom  that 
destroys  the  image  is  a  different  kind  of  govern- 


88  DEFENCE    OF    ARM  AliEDDON. 

ment  altogetlier  from  monarcliy,  and  hostile  to  it, 
that  fifth  government  must  be  a  great  Republic. 
In  truth_,  as  monarchy  restored  is  seen  in  the  image, 
Israel,  or  a  providential  Republic,  must  be  restored 
also,  in  order  to  the  destruction  of  monarchy. 

Let  those  divines  attend  who  suppose  that  Chris- 
tianity is  "  the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  with- 
out hands."  Which  of  the  four  great  empires  did 
Christianity  destroy  ?  The  truth  is,  the  Assyrian, 
the  Medo-Persian,  and  the  Macedonian  kingdoms 
had  passed  away  long  before  Christianity  was  born. 
And  as  for  Rome,  certainly  no  good  Christian  would 
ever  dream  that  the  barbarian  hordes  from  the 
North  who  overran  the  Roman  Empire  were  either 
good  or  bad  Christians. 

From  this  symbol  we  are  clearly  taught : 

First.  That  the  whole  of  monarchy,  from  the  As- 
syrian down  to  its  utter  destruction_,  is  represented 
in  the  dream. 

Second.  That  a  political  government,  unconnect- 
ed with,  different  from,  and  hostile  to  monarchy, 
would  providentially  arise  in  the  divided  age  of  the 
Roman  Empire. 

Third.  That  this  fifth  or  stone  government  would 
destroy  the  last  vestige  of  monarchy  irom  the  face 
of  the  earth. 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  89 

Fourth.  That  the  destruction  of  monarchy  will 
be  effected  by  military  power.  The  strong  lan- 
guage employed  to  describe  the  destruction  of  the 
metallic  image  cannot  refer  to  the  gentle  and  in- 
offensive religion  of  Christ.  The  power  of  moral 
suasion,  by  gradual  influence,  will  change  the 
heart  and  manners  of  men.  But  to  overthrow  at 
one  single  blow  a  vast  political  organization,  com- 
bining millions  of  subjects,  the  custom  of  ages, 
and  the  wealth  of  nations,  and  that,  too  by  the 
mild  and  gentle  genius  of  a  religion  whose  great 
Author  was  meek  and  lonely,  and  whose  kingdom 
was  not  of  this  world,  is  out  of  the  question.  The 
very  terms  used  to  describe  the  destruction  of  the 
Macedonian  Empire  by  the  Roman  are  also  employed 
to  show  the  annihilation  of  all  the  empires  by  the 
stone.  Now,  the  conquests  made  by  Rome  were 
effected  by  the  prowess  of  her  arms  :  none  will 
deny  this.  If,  therefore,  Rome  herself  and  the 
balance  of  the  kingdoms  are  to  be  destroyed,  it 
must  be  by  military  power  also. 

The  destruction  effected  by  this  fearful  power  is 
complete,  for  the  image  is  broken  and  reduced  to 
infinitesimal  atoms :  it  is  scattered  to  the  winds, 
like  chaff  from  the  summer's  threshing-floors. 

As  this  conflict  puts  a  final  end  to  all  earthly 


90  DEFENCEOFAllMAGliDDON. 

monarchy,  and  as  all  political  governments  are 
either  autocratic  or  democratic,  and  as  the  fifth 
government  is  to  "become  a  great  mountain  and 
fill  the  whole  world,"  the  conclusion  is  forced  upon 
us  that  one  of  the  grand  missions  of  the  providen- 
tial Republic  of  America  is  the  final  overthrow  of 
monarchy  and  the  extension  of  the  principles  of 
popular  freedom  over  the  whole  world. 

The  vision  of  Daniel  the  prophet  was  a  corrobo- 
ration of  the  dream  of  Nebuchadnezzar  the  king. 
The  four  beasts  of  Daniel  answer  to  the  four  metals 
of  the  ima2;e.  The  ten  horns  on  the  head  of  the 
fourth  beast  answer  to  the  ten  toes  on  the  feet  of 
the  image.  The  little  horn  having  eyes,  that  arose 
on  the  head  of  the  last  beast,  and  amongst  the 
other  horns,  symbolized  an  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion with  the  state,  and  answers  to  the  union  of 
the  clay  and  iron  in  the  feet.  The  rise  of  the  An- 
cient upon  a  chariot  throne  symbolizes  a  pure  po- 
litical governmcnt,combining  the  principles  of  aeon- 
federated  republic,  such  as  was  the  "ancient"  form 
of  government  given  to  the  Jews,  and  answers  to 
the  stone  "cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands." 
The  casting  down  of  the  thrones  before  the  Ancient 
answers  to  the  smiting  of  the  monarchical  image 
by  the  stone.     The  coming  of  "  one  like  to  the 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  91 

Son  of  man  to  the  Ancient,"  and  "  the  dominion 
given  to  the  people  of  the  saints,"  answer  to  the 
stone  becoming  '^a  great  mountain  and  filling  the 
whole  earth  ;"  and  both  symbolize  the  universal 
spread  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  until  the  mil- 
lennial glory  of  Christ  shall  cover  the  earth  as  the 
waters  cover  the  seas. 

The  vision  is  indeed  a  sublime  one  ;  and  the  in- 
expressible grandeur  of  the  scene  has  inclined  most 
men  to  suppose  that  "  the  Ancient  of  days"  was 
the  Almighty  Father.  But  how  can  this  be? 
For  this  is  evidently  a  judgment-scene  of  the  doom 
of  monarchy  ;  for  this  alone,  it  seems,  the  judg- 
ment did  sit  and  "the  thrones  were  cast  down." 
But  "the  Father  judgeth  no  man."  God  the 
Father  is  in  no  place  in  the  Scriptures  represented 
by  a  human  form.  Besides,  the  Almighty  is  not 
the  "Ancient of  days  :"  he  is  the  Ancient  of  eter- 
nity. And  the  term  "  days"  is  evidently  used  in 
this  passage  to  let  men  understand  that  the  vision 
refers  to  time,  and  its  scenes  are  to  be  transacted 
on  earth.  Nor  can  the  "Ancient"  refer  to  the 
Son  of  man,  for  it  is  written  in  the  vision  that 
"  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man  came  to  the  An- 
cient" afterwards. 

"  And  there  was  war  in  lieaven  :  Michael  and  his 


92  DEFENCK    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

angels  fought  against  the  dragon  ;  and  the  dragon 
fought  and  his  angels,  and  prevailed  not ;  neither 
was  their  place  found  any  more  in  heaven.  And 
the  great  dragon  was  cast  out."     Rev.  xii,  7,  8. 

This  passage  is  another  symbolic  announcement 
of  the  grand  conflict.  The  contending  armies,  the 
battle-scene  and  its  results,  are  respectively  men- 
tioned. 

"A  dragon,"  being  fabulous,  is  necessarily  a 
symbol ;  for,  although  the  word  has  been  applied 
first  to  one  beast  and  then  to  another,  there  is  no 
certainty  if  it  had  any  identical  original.  But  the 
tyrants  of  the  ancient  kingdoms  were  called  dra- 
gons :  the  despots  of  Egypt  in  particular  were  de- 
nominated thus.  The  Scriptures  being  then  their 
own  interpreter,  a  dragon  is  the  symbol  of  political 
despotism.  Now,  as  the  one  part  is  symbolic,  the 
other  must  be  also.  Then  "^ Michael"  is  not,  in 
this  case,  a  literal  angel,  but  stands  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  power  opposed  to  autocracy.  That 
power  can  only  be  the  genius  of  popular  freedom. 
Perfectly  agreeable  to  this  definition  is  the  char- 
acter drawn  of  this  same  Michael  in  the  Book  of 
Daniel.  He  is  there  called  "Michael  the  great 
prince,  that  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  peo- 
ple :"  that  is,  he  is  the  illustration  and  exponent 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  93 

of  tlie  genius  of  liberty  or  tlie  sovereignty  of  the 
people.  The  term  "heaven"  in  the  passage  is  also 
symbolic,  and  means,  when  used  in  the  Apocalypse, 
the  place  of  the  Church,  as  the  term  "earth,"  when 
employed  under  the  same  circumstances,  refers  to 
the  seat  of  the  old  Roman  Empire.  As  for  "war 
in  heaven,"  the  place  of  future  blessedness,  no  dra- 
gon or  war  will  ever  be  known  there  ;  for  "there 
the  wicked  cease  to  trouble,  and  the  weary  are  at 
rest." 

Then  the  war  which  is  to  take  place  between 
Michael  and  his  angels  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
dragon  and  his  angels  on  the  other,  must  foretell 
the  final  battle  that  must  inevitably  occur  between 
civil  and  religious  liberty  and  its  armies  and  mon- 
archy and  its  armies,  which,  according  to  the  pre- 
diction, closes  with  the  glorious  triumph  of  the 
former  over  the  ruin  and  annihilation  of  the  latter. 

"  Michael,  the  great  prince  that  standeth  for  thy 
people,"  must  then,  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  be 
understood  as  the  symbolic  embodiment  of  popular 
sovereignty.  But,  my  countrymen,  if  any  one  man 
that  ever  lived  on  earth  is  entitled  to  be  called 
Michael,  the  great  prince  that  standeth  for  the 
people,  it  is  George  Washington,  the  friend  of  lib- 
erty, and  the  father  of  his  country. 
9 


94  DEFENCEOFARMAGEDDON. 

"  And  I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold  a  white 
horse  ;  and  he  that  sat  upon  him,  .  .  and  in  right- 
eousness he  doth  jndge  and  make  war.  His  eyes 
were  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  on  his  head  were  many 
crowns.  .  .  And  I  saw  the  beast,  and  the  kings  of 
the  earth,  and  their  armies,  gathered  together  to 
make  war  against  him  that  sat  on  the  horse,  and 
against  his  army.  And  the  beast  was  taken,  and 
with  him  the  false  prophet.  .  .  And  the  remnant 
were  slain  with  the  sword  of  him  that  sat  upon  the 
horse."     Eev.  xix. 

From  the  best  annotators  of  prophecy,  the  fol- 
lowing is  the  true  and  legitimate  interpretation  of 
the  terms  employed  : 

First.  A  ''  horse  "  is  a  symbol  of  some  form  of 
religion  ;  consequently,  a  ''  white  horse  "  must  re- 
present a  pure  and  divinely  authorized  religion. 

Second,  A  "  man  "  symbolizes  a  political  gov- 
ernment. 

Third.  ''  Crowns  "  represent  sovereignties  : 
"  many  crowns  upon  his  head  '' — many  State  sov- 
ereignties united  in  one  political  union  or  confeder- 
ation. When  this  same  symbolic  personage  ap- 
peared as  "the  man-child,"  the  number  of  States 
represented  by  the  stars  was  twelve,  then  thirteen  ; 
but  now,  since  the  infant ''is  one  hundred  years 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  95 

old"  at  the  commencement  of  the  great  war,  he 
appears  on  the  battle-field,  "crowned  witli  many 
crowns" — many  more  States  in  the  confederacy 
than  at  the  beginning. 

Then,  we  behold  in  this  vision  of  St.  Jolin  a 
political  government  embracing  a  confederation  of 
many  State  sovereignties,  acknowledging  and  con- 
fiding in  one  true  and  divinely  sanctioned  religion. 

That  the  United  States  of  America  answers  to 
this  picture,  our  very  national  "  E  pluribus  unum  " 
declares. 

Here  again  we  heboid  the  forces  of  monarchy 
mustered  to  give  battle  to  a  free  confederated  Ke- 
public  that  sanctions  the  only  true  religion.  "  For 
the  beast,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  their 
armies,  gathered  together  to  make  war  against  him 
that  sat  upon  the  horse,  and  against  his  army." 
The  taking  of  the  beast,  and  the  false  prophet, 
and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  their  armies, 
and  the  slaying  of  the  remnant  by  the  sword 
of  him  that  sat  upon  the  horse,  foretell  the  over- 
throw and  utter  destruction  of  the  allied  armies 
of  monarchy,  by  an  enlightened  confederated  Re- 
public in  one  great  decisive  battle. 

The  symbols  are  so  numerous,  the  imagery  so 
perfectly  descriptive  of  each  respective  scene,  and 


96  DEFENCE    OF     ARMAGEDDON. 

the  correspondence  of  eacli  member  so  wonderfully 
adapted  to  complete  the  symmetry  of  the  whole, 
we  are  hound  to  behold  their  fulfilment  in  the  rise 
and  growing  grandeur  of  a  great  consolidated  Re- 
public on  the  one  hand,  and  the  reconstruction  of 
the  autocracy  of  antiquity  in  some  vast  empire  on 
the  other.  These  two  colossal  powers  will  meet  in 
a  last  decisive  struggle. 

So  far  as  the  historic  panorama  has  disclosed  the 
subject,  the  accumulating  coincidences  are  remark- 
ably true,  and  on  a  sublime  scale.  These  two  great 
powers  are  the  United  States  of  America  and  the 
monarchy  of  Russia,  both  widely  extending  the 
magnitude  of  their  greatness  :  so  that,  in  the  pre- 
sent state  of  affairs,  a  perfect  coincidence  of  facts 
answers  a  perfect  description  of  prophecy.  We 
look  to  the  future  for  the  finale  of  these  startling 
wonders,  to  be  fulfilled  in  a  conflict  that  will  enlist 
all  nations,  stir  the  world  with  commotion,  and 
drench  the  earth  with  blood. 

We  now  call  your  attention  to  a  literal  and  most 
graphic  description  of  the  last  conflict. 

Ezekiel  the  priest,  the  son  of  Buzi,  while  amongst 
the  captives  by  the  river  Chebar,  saw  the  heavens 
open,  and  had  visions  of  God. 

In  the  thirty-eighth  and  thirty-ninth  chapters  of 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  97 

his  prophecy,  he  gives  us  a  full,  literal,  and  detail- 
ed description  of  this  battle ;  yet  it  is  most  astonish- 
ing that  although  this  account  is  plain,  presenting 
in  the  concrete  and  the  minutice  the  whole  subject, 
commentators  in  the  old  continent  declare  that  it 
is  the  most  mysterious  and  perplexing  portion  of 
all  Ezekiel's  writings.  Did  it  not  appear  unchari- 
table, we  would  be  led  to  suppose  that  the  only 
difficulty  in  the  case  was  the  doom  of  monarchy, 
so  plainly  announced,  that  a  legitimate  comment 
of  its  true  meaning  might  not  be  favorably  received 
by  the  fawning  friends  of  the  political  systems  of 
the  old  world.  But  Grod  "has  magnified  his  word 
above  all  his  name," 

"And  what  his  mouth  in  truth  hath  said, 
His  own  almighty  hand  will  do." 

The  invading  army,  and  the  multitudinous  hosts 
of  its  allies,  are  particularly  mentioned  by  their 
appropriate  names  and  the  countries  they  represent ; 
the  geographical  location  and  territorial  description 
of  the  land  to  be  invaded  ;  the  character  of  its  in- 
habitants, their  quietude  and  prosperity  ;  the  un- 
provoked nature  of  the  attack  ;  the  suicidal  policy 
of  the  invasion,  as  declared  by  the  Almighty  ;  the 
solicitude  of  the  invaded  people  to  know  the  cause 
of  the  campaign  ;  the  universal  agitation  and  com- 
9* 


98  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

motion  of  the  whole  peoj)le  so  irivadeel  :  the  battle- 
field ;  the  Divine  interposition  in  behalf  of  the 
invaded  ;  the  unbroken  unanimity  of  all  the  States 
and.  Territories  in  resisting  the  foe  ;  the  overwhelm- 
ing triumph  over  monarchy  ;  the  immensity  of  the 
armament,  as  seen  in  the  sepulture  of  the  slain  and 
the  wrecks  of  battle  ;  the  simultaneous  insurrection 
of  the  subjects  of  monarchy  at  home  ;  the  glorious 
results  of  the  contest ;  the  annihilation  of  despotism, 
and  the  world-wide  extension  of  popular  freedom — 
all,  all  are  announced  in  the  programme  of  the 
prophet. 

First,  then,  let  us  know  lolio  leads  this  invasion  f 
"  Son  of  man,  set  thy  face  against  Gog,  the  land 
of  Magog,  the  chief  prince  of  Meshech  and  Tubal, 
and  prophesy  against  him,  and  say,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God :  Behold,,  I  am  against  thee,  0  Gog,  the 
chief  prince  of  Meshech  and  Tubal :  and  I  will  turn 
thee  back,  and  put  hooks  into  thy  jaws,  and  I  will 
bring  thee  forth,  and  all  thine  army,  horses  and 
horsemen,  all  of  them  clothed  with  all  sorts  of 
armor,  even  a  great  company  with  bucklers  and 
shields,  all  of  them  handling  swords  :  Persia,  Ethi- 
opia, and  Libya  with  them  ;  all  of  them  with  shield 
and  helmet :  Gomer,  and  all  his  bands  ;  the  house 
of  Togarmah  of  the  north  quarters,  and  all  his 
bands  :  and  many  people  with  thee." 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON,  99 

Now,  who.soever  these  people  maybe,  "tlie  chief 
prince,"  or  great  leading  sovereignty  of  the  inva- 
sion is  found  among  them.  Hence  this  direct  ad- 
dress of  the  Almighty  to  that  prince.  And  that 
this  prince  is  the  headship  of  the  alliance  is  evident 
from  Grod's  personal  message  to  him:  "Be  thou 
prepared,  and  prepare  for  thyself,  thou,  and  all  thy 
company  that  are  assembled  unto  thee,  and  be  thou 
a  guard  unto  them."  Here,  then  is  the  leading 
power  marked  out  in  the  prophecy^  to  which  the 
allied  armies  will  be  assembled. 

This  overwhelming  power  we  shall  demonstrate 
to  be  Russia. 

The  very  names  of  the  ancient  patriarchs  of  the 
Russian  dominions  determine  their  location  and 
nationality. 

"  GrOg"  signifies  a  prince  or  head  of  many  coun- 
tries. 

"Magogs  Gomer,  Meshech,  and  Tubal,"  are  four 
of  the  seven  sons  of  Japheth.  (See  Genesis  x;  1 
Chron.  i.) 

These  patriarchs,  according  to  Calmet,  Brown, 
Bochart,  and  others,  settled  within  the  bounds  of 
what  is  now  the  Russian  dominions. 

"  Magog,"  says  Josephus,   "founded   the   Ma- 
gogue,  whom   the  Greeks  call  Scythee."      Now, 


100  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

these  Scythee  are  the  Scythians,  who  form  almost 
one-fourth  of  Russian  population.  They  extended 
from  Hungary,  Transylvania,  and  Wallachia,  on 
the  west,  to  the  River  Dan  on  the  east.  The  Rus- 
sian territory  of  this  people  embraces  a  large  por- 
tion hoth  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

"Meshech,"  the  sixth  son  of  Japheth,  settled 
in  the  north-eastern  portion  of  Asia  Minor.  His 
posterity  extended  from  the  shores  of  the  Euxine 
Sea  along  to  the  south  of  Caucasus.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  Rossi  and  Moschi,  who  dispersed  their 
colonies  over  a  vast  portion  of  Russian  territory. 
And  their  names  are  preserved  in  the  names  of 
Russians  and  Muscovites  to  this  day.  The  Septua- 
gint  version  of  the  Old  Testament  renders  the 
term  Meshech  by  the  words  Mosch  and  Rosch; 
while  Moscovy  is  a  common  name  of  Russia,  and 
the  city  of  Moscow  is  one  of  their  principal  cities, 

"Tubal,"  or  Tobal,  the  fifth  son  of  Japheth, 
settled  beyond  the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas  in  the 
eastern  possessions  of  Russia,  embracing  a  very 
large  portion  of  those  dominions.  The  name  of 
this  patriarch  is  still  preserved  in  the  river  Tobal, 
which  waters  an  immense  tract  of  Russian  terri- 
tory ;  and  the  city  of  Tobalski  in  Russia  is  still  a 
monument  to  this  son  of  Japheth. 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  101 

From  all  which,  it  is  certain  that,  as  Magog, 
Meshech,  and  Tubal  compose  the  present  posses- 
sions of  Eussia,  the  sovereignty  of  that  empire  is 
the  chief  prince  addressed  in  the  prophetic  mes- 
sage. 

"Gromer,  and  all  his  bands  ;  the  house  of  Togar- 
mah  of  the  north  quarters,  and  all  his  bands,  and 
many  people  with  thee." 

"Gomer,"  another  son  of  Japheth,  settled  far- 
ther down  westward  in  Europe ;  and  has  left  his 
name  entailed  in  Hungary,  in  a  city  and  country 
both  known  to  this  day  as  the  city  and  country  of 
Gomer. 

"Togarmah,"  the  son  of  Gomer,  according  to 
Cicero  and  Strabo,  not  only  peopled  a  large  por- 
tion of  Western  Europe,  but  sent  settlements  into 
Turcomania  and  Scythia  in  Russia. 

Russia,  then,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  is  the 
headship  or  leading  power  around  which  the  mul- 
titudinous armies  of  allied  monarchy  shall  be 
gathered  together. 

"Persia,  Ethiopia,  and  Libya  with  them  ;  all  of 
them  Avith  shield  and  helmet." 

Persia  here  represents  the  swarming  hosts  from 
the  Asiatic  possessions ;  Ethiopia  and  Libya,  the 
armies  from  Africa. 


102  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

"  Thou  slialt  ascend  and  come  like  a  storm,  thou 
shalt  be  like  a  cloud  to  cover  the  land,  thou,  and 
all  thy  bands,  and  many  people  with  thee." 

The  invasion  is  here  announced  by  an  armament 
such  as  the  world  never  saw.  For  the  millions 
that  are  to  assemble  under  Gog  or  Russia  embrace 
nearly  all  of  Europe,  as  well  as  a  large  portion  of 
Asia  and  Africa.  This  army  is  drafted  from  three 
continents  to  invade  a  fourth.  It  rises  dismal  as  a 
cloud,  and  dreadful  as  a  storm. 

We  must  look  to  Russia,  then,  as  the  colossal 
giant  of  reconstructed  monarchy,  embodying  the 
whole  of  autocracy  in  the  last  grand  organization 
— embracing  all  the  principles  foreshadowed  in  the 
metallic  symbol  of  the  vision  "whose  brightness 
was  excellent,  and  the  form  thereof  terrible."  In 
fact,  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  still  bears  the 
royal  cognomen  of  the  golden-headed  monarchs  of 
ancient  Babylon.  Who  is  the  present  Emperor  of 
Russia?  Alexander  ^/ie  6*2ar.  And  who  are  found 
among  the  monarchs  of  Assyria?  Nobonazar,  Ne- 
buchadnezzar, and  Belshazzar.  These  were  not 
accidental  terminations  of  their  respective  names, 
but  were  doubtless  terms  of  Assyrian  royalty.  So 
also  the  Roman  Ccesars,  which  scarcely  vary  from 
the  true  pronunciation  of  the  czars.     We  behold 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  103 

in  Russia  the  original  trunk  of  autocracy.  In  the 
time  of  Catharine,  she  arose  in  august  magnitude, 
and  entered  into  the  European  state  system  about 
the  time  of  the  rise  of  our  great  country.  We  see 
rising  on  the  one  hand  and  on  the  other,  the  two 
great  powers  that  represent  respectively  their  op- 
posing principles  of  government  that  will  come  in 
collision  in  the  last  dreadful  fray. 

The  United  States  of  America,  young  and  vigor- 
ous, arising  in  the  Northern  temperate  zone,  with 
untold  resources,  extending  its  borders  from  sea  to 
sea,  and  from  the  lakes  in  the  North  to  Heaven 
only  knows  how  far  South — she  is  the  enlightened 
and  uncompromising  representative  of  popular  free- 
dom. And  there  is  Russia  in  gigantic  proportions, 
arising  also  in  the  Northern  temperate  zone,  with 
her  million  of  warriors,  now  occupying  one-seventh 
of  earth's  terra-Jirma,  stretching  from  the  Black 
Sea  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  from  the  Baltic 
on  the  West,  till  her  Cossacks  almost  hear  the 
British  drums  boat  in  farther  India.  And  she  is 
the  representative  of  absolutism. 

These  ascending  powers,  like  two  towering 
clouds  culminating  in  the  heavens,  surcharged 
with  electric  ruin,  will  shock  the  world  witli  their 
collision,  and  bathe  the  world  in  blood. 


104  DEFENCK    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

But  allied  with  Russia  will  be  the  teeming  my- 
riads from  all  the  empires  on  earth  except  France — 
belle  France.  France  will  be  with  us  in  the  end, 
as  she  was  with  us  in  the  beginning.*  We  feel 
warranted  for  this  position.  Commentators  agree, 
that  when  the  state  system  in  Europe  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Apocalypse  by  the  celestial  bodies, 
France  is  appropriately  denominated  "  the  sun," 
not  only  from  its  vivacity  and  brilliancy,  but  es- 
pecially from  its  central  position  to  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope. "  And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun  ; 
and  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the 
fowls  that  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  Come,  and 
gather  yourselves  together  unto  the  supper  of  the 
great  God,  that  ye  may  eat  the  flesh  of  kings," 
etc.  Rev.  xix.  This  angel,  must,  therefore,  rep- 
resent the  genius  of  France,  rejoicing  over  the 
downfall  of  monarchy  ;  consequently,  will  be  with 
America  in  the  final  struggle.  A  strong  under- 
current for  civil  and  religious  liberty  has  frequently 

*  In  delivering  the  above  sentence  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives, 
the  assembly  turned  their  attention  to  a  large  life-like  portrait  of 
Lafayette,  hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  Capitol,  opposite  that  of 
Washington.  AVe  had  not  observed  Lafayette's  portrait  till  that 
moment,  as  it  was  on  our  left.  The  expression,  "France  will  be 
with  us  in  the  end,  as  she  was  with  us  in  the  beginning,"  seemed 
to  make  a  profound  sensation,  as  they  saw  no  other  nation  on  the 
canvas  but  France  and  America.  The  coincidence  was  impressive 
upon  our  own  mind  as  it  evidently  was  with  the  audience. 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  105 

risen  to  the  surface  in  the  French  nation ;  and  under 
its  power  she  will  break  her  alliance  with  mon- 
archy, and  join  the  standard  of  liberty  against  the 
despotisms  of  the  world. 

But  England,  true  to  her  proud  autocracy,  will 
die  for  the  Divine  right  of  kings.  Her  policy  will 
not  be  influenced  by  language,  religion,  nor  blood  ; 
but  in  the  final  onset  she  will  join  the  crusade 
against  America. 

When  was  she  ever  known  to  favor  an  oppressed 
people  attempting  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  despot- 
ism ?     Look  at  her  tender  mercies  toward  her  own 
children  when  struggling  in  the  war  of  Independ- 
ence.    See  how  she  let  loose  "  the  horrible   hell- 
hounds of  savage  cruelty,"  when  she  turned  the 
bloody  Indian,  with  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife, 
upon  helpless  women  and  children  ;  and  even  re- 
warded the  savage  furies  with  a  pound  sterling  for 
every  scalp  that  was  taken,  whether  from  the  poor 
old  man,  the  defenceless  mother,  or  the   sucking 
babe.     Look  at  her  cruelties  with  her  pagan  slaves 
in  India.     Even  now,  who  can  look  to  China  with- 
out emotion?     Behold  how  she  gloated  over  ill- 
fated  Hungary.     When  the  friends  of  freedom  were 
immolated  in   crowds  b}^  Austrian  despots — when 
delicate   females  were  cowhided  in   the  streets  by 
10 


106  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

tlie  incarnate  fiend  Haynaii — England,  by  a  nod, 
could  liave  suppressed  the  whole.  Talk  of  Eng- 
lish sympathy  for  the  children  of  Africa  in  Ameri- 
ca !  What  consummate  hypocrisy  !  when,  at  the 
same  time,  thousands  of  her  own  pauper  people 
are  suffered  to  live  like  beasts,  or  rather  to  die 
like  dogs,  if  not  confined  for  long  years  in  her 
mines,  without  seeing  the  light  of  day,  but  work- 
ing in  traces  like  mules,  on  all-fours,  to  fatten  the 
fortunes  of  English  aristocracy.  Do  you  doubt  the 
picture  ?  it  is  drawn  by  an  official  report  to  Parlia- 
ment. Alas,  let  Ireland,  from  centuries  of  misera- 
ble oppression,  say  what  heart  has  England  to  aid 
the  friends  of  freedom  against  the  despotism  of 
usurpation. 

No  :  England  will  be  allied  with  Russia.  Her 
policy,  not  her  love,  may  sustain  amicable  relations 
while  it  suits  her,  but  no  longer.  But  her  glory 
is  departing.  She  has  gambled  with  the  world 
till  she  has  lost  the  sword.  When  the  Empress  of 
the  British  Isles  visited  the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  to 
pay  honor  to  the  ashes  of  the  dead  whom  her  own 
government  had  outlawed  while  living,  it  was  then 
England's  waning  renown  was  seen  in  the  rising 
splendors  of  the  French  nation.  '^Ichabod"  is 
already  written  on  the  palaces  of  her  power.     Self- 


DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON.  107 

preservation  will  cong-lomerate  the  autocratic  pow- 
ers of  the  Old  World  in  one  stupendous  attack 
upon  that  nation  whose  republican  principles  and 
brilliant  example  have  already  disquieted  the  re- 
pose of  princes,  and  made  each  royal  diadem  a 
crown  of  thorns. 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  :  it  shall  also  come  to 
pass,  that  at  the  same  time  shall  things  come  into 
thy  mind,  and  thou  shalt  think  an  evil  thought. 
Thou  shalt  say,  I  will  go  up  to  the  land  of  un- 
walled  villages  ;  I  will  go  to  them  that  are  at  rest, 
that  dwell  safely,  all  of  them  dwelling  without 
walls,  and  having  neither  bars  nor  gates.  To  take 
a  spoil,  and  to  take  a  prey  ;  to  turn  thine  hand 
upon  the  desolate  places  that  are  now  inhabited, 
and  upon  the  people  that  are  gathered  out  of  the 
nations,  which  have  gotten  cattle  and  goods,  that 
dwell  in  the  midst  of  the  land,"  Ezek.  xxxviii. 
The  Almighty  pronounces  the  invasion  impolitic — 
that  the  expedition  was  from  ''^an  evil  thought;" 
and  what  was  foreseen  and  foretold  to  be  j)lanned 
in  weakness  or  wickedness,  will,  by  its  disastrous 
realization,  confirm  the  truth  of  the  Divine  decla- 
ration. 

The  land  to  be  invaded  is^  in  the  foregoing  quo- 
tation, a  literal  and  true  description  of  the  United 


108  DEFENCE   OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

States,  and  can  ajjply  to  no  other  country  or  people 
under  heaven.  A  country  highly  elevated — the 
land  once  a  wilderness  or  desolate,  but  now  inhab- 
ited— a  "land  of  un walled  villages" — a  ""people 
gathered  out  of  the  nations' ' — a  people  "  that  dwell 
safely" — jDroprietors  of  the  country,  dwelling  at 
rest — a  people  prosperous  in  their  fortunes,  having 
"gotten  cattle  and  goods,  dwelling  in  the  midst 
of  the  land."  It  is  the  same  country  described  by 
the  prophet  "between  the  two  seas;"  and  by 
Daniel,  when,  after  describing  the  conquests  of 
"  the  willful  king  of  the  North,"  (Kussia,)  in  carry- 
ing his  victorious  armies  ' '  into  the  glorious  land," 
(Palestine,)  he  hears  tidings  from  the  North  and 
from  the  East  which  trouble  him,  and  he  "  comes 
in  great  wrath"  away  from  Palestine,  and  plants 
the  tabernacles  of  his  palaces  "  in  the  glorious  holy 
mountain."  Upon  this  high  country  he  falls,  and 
is  "  broken  without  hands."  This  glorious  moun- 
tain cannot  be  Judea,  for  the  invader  has  just  re- 
turned from  Judea  to  "  go  up  to  the  land  of  un- 
walled  villages." 

"  After  many  days  thou  shalt  be  visited  :  in  the 
latter  years  thou  shalt  come  unto  the  land  that  is 
gathered  out  of  many  people.  .  .  I  will  bring  thee 
forth,  and  all  thine  army,  horses  and  horsemen,  all 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  109 

of  them  clothed  with  all  sorts  of  armor,  even  a  great 
company  with  bucklers  and  shields,  all  of  them 
handling  swords."  Observe,  the  scene  of  this  bat- 
tle is  laid  "  in  the  latter  years,"  which  must  cor- 
respond with  the  conflict  which  is  yet  to  come  ;  the 
expression  being  always  understood  in  prophecy  to 
refer  to  the  tlirilling  times  immediately  preceding 
the  millennium.  The  diversity  of  the  implements 
of  battle  indicates  the  many  nationalities  enrolled 
for  battle.  Perhaps  "horses  and  horsemen"  pe- 
culiarly refer  to  the  resources  of  Russia,  who  boasts 
that  she  can  bring  a  million  men  into  the  field. 

The  battle-field — the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi : 
' '  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  I  will 
give  unto  Gog  a  place  there  of  graves  in  Israel,  the 
valley  of  the  passengers  on  the  east  of  the  sea." 
Ezek.  xxxix,  11. 

The  philosophy  of  our  language  settles  the  loca- 
tion. When  two  things  of  the  same  class  are  spoken 
of  in  the  same  sentence,  it  is  according.to  rhetoric, 
in  referring  to  the  greater  of  the  two,  simply  to  use 
the  definite  article  ''the."  As  the  prophet  had 
referred  to  both  seas,  the  eastern  and  the  great 
western,  now  it  was  proper  simply  to  say  "the 
sea  ;"  that  is,  the  Pacific,  because  it  is  the  greater. 
This  valley  lies  on  the  east  of  the  Pacific,  then, 
10* 


110  DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 

which  is  precisely  the  relative  position  of  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi.  But  this  valley  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi is  "  the  valley  of  passengers." 

How  justly  d*ntitled  to  this  appellation  is  our  great 
Valley,  more  peculiarly  so  than  any  valley  in  the 
known  world !  See  the  thousands  of  vessels  that 
convey  tens  of  thousands  of  passengers  on  more  than 
fifty  thousand  miles  of  the  Father  of  Waters  and 
its  navigable  tributaries  !  look  at  the  immense  trains 
of  people  that  daily  traverse  this  valley  in  railroad 
cars,  while  caravan  alter  caravan  of  emigrants  are, 
and  have  been  for  years,  pressing  to  the  great  West 
to  dwell  in  all  our  vast  new  States  and  Territories — 
and  their  number  increases  by  swarming  thousands ! 
The  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  then,  on  the  east  of 
the  sea,  is  "the  valley  of  passengers,"  and  this  is 
the  battle-field  of  that  last  great  conflict ;  for 
"there,"  says  God,  "will  I  give  to  Gog,  and  to 
the  many  people  that  are  with  them,  a  place  of 
graves."  Joel  lays  the  scene  of  this  startling  and 
sublime  event  also  in  a  valley  :  ' '  Multitudes  1  mul- 
titudes in  the  valley  of  decision  1 ' ' 

The  excitement  and  commotion  amongst  our  own 
people  will  be  overwhelming  and  universal.  "In 
that  day  there  shall  be  a  great  shaking  in  the  land 
of  Israel,  so  that  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  fowls 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  Ill 

of  heaven,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  all  creep- 
ing things  that  creep  upon  the  earth,  and  all  the 
men  that  are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  shall  shake 
at  my  presence,  and  the  mountains  shall  be  thrown 
down,  and  the  steep  places  shall  fall,  and  every  wall 
shall  fall  to  the  ground." 

A  time,  indeed,  of  great  consternation  and  trou- 
ble, such  as  has  never  been  since  the  world  began  ! 

But  firm  and  unbroken  in  the  dreadful  shock,  our 
confederated  Republic  will  remain  an  undivided 
unit.  For,  says  God,  ''I  will  call  for  a  sword 
throughout  all  my  mountains."  Every  State  and 
Territory  will  be  in  the  field.  Our  glorious  Union, 
then,  from  a  Divine  promise,  shall  never  dissolve. 
No  storm-cloud  in  the  Norths  or  volcanic  eruption 
in  the  South^  will  ever  divide  our  great  country. 
Our  noble  vessel,  with  her  live-oak  timbers,  will 
reel  and  quiver  in  the  dreadful  squall,  but  she  will 
never  founder  !  A  child  of  Providence,  born  in  the 
tempest  and  cradled  in  the  storm,  was  early  disci- 
plined for  the  august  destiny  that  awaits  it : 

"  A  union  of  lakes,  and  a  union  of  lands, 
A  union  no  power  shall  sever  ; 
A  union  of  hearts,  and  a  union  of  hands, 
And  the  American  Union  for  ever  !" 

In  the  darkness  of  that  dreadful  day,  when  the 
heavens  are  hung  with  the  clouds  of  war,  and  the 


112  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

earth  vibrates  with  the  peals  of  battle ;  when  the 
face  of  the  valiant  is  pale,  and  the  heart  of  the 
brave  is  troubled  ;  while  storms  portentous  of  an- 
nihilation howl  around  like  the  wailings  of  the 
damned — "all  these  are  but  the  beginning  of  sor- 
row:" "for  there  shall  be  great  tribulation,  such 
as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  this 
time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be," 

It  will  be  then,  my  countrymen,  and  not  till 
then,  that  the  heart  of  our  great  people  will  begin 
to  understand  the  immediate  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  and  the  supervision  of  his  providence  in  the 
rise,  preservation,  and  destiny  of  our  glorious  Re- 
public. "  So  will  I  make  my  holy  name  known  in 
the  midst  of  my  people  Israel ;  and  I  will  not  let 
them  pollute  my  holy  name  any  more."  Ezek. 
xxxix. 

In  the  universal  calamity  of  those  troublous 
times,  we  will  be  imj)elled  to  call  upon  Jehovah ; 
and  nothing  can  so  eflectually  reveal  the  Divine 
presence  and  power  as  a  whole  nation  looking  to 
Heaven  for  help.  To  realize  our  dependence  on 
Almighty  God,  and  fully  to  know  and  appreciate 
the  supervision  of  his  hand,  is  doubtless  one  of  the 
wise  and  gracious  designs  for  the  stormy  ordeal 
through  which  we  will  pass.     For  in  the  very  mid- 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  113 

night  of  our  troubles,  Heaven  will  appear  to  our 
rescue.  "It  shall  come  to  pass  at  the  same  time, 
when  Gog  shall  come  against  the  land  of  Israel, 
saith  the  Lord  Grod,  that  my  fury  shall  come  up  in 
my  face.  .  .  I  will  put  hooks  in  thy  jaws,  and  turn 
thee  back.  .  .  I  will  call  for  a  sword  against  him 
throughout  all  my  mountains.  .  .  And  I  will 
plead  against  him  with  pestilence  and  with  blood  ; 
and  I  will  rain  upon  him,  and  upon  his  bands,  and 
upon  the  many  people  that  are  with  him,  an  over- 
flowing rain,  and  great  hailstones,  fire,  and  brim- 
stone. Thus  will  I  magnify  myself,  and  sanctify 
myself;  and  I  will  be  known  in  the  eyes  of  many 
nations,  and  they  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord. 
.  .  And  I  will  smite  thy  bow  out  of  thy  left 
hand,  and  will  cause  thine  arrows  to  fall  out  of  thy 
right  hand.  Thou  shalt  fall  upon  the  mountains 
of  Israel,  thou^  and  all  thy  bands,  and  the  people 
that  is  with  thee  :  I  will  give  thee  unto  the  raven- 
ous birds  of  every  sort,  and  to  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  to  be  devoured.  Thou  shalt  fall  upon  the 
open  field :  for  I  have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord 
God."     Ezek.  xxxix. 

A  similar  description,  with  the  same  sublime 
imagery,  of  this  battle  of  the  great  day  of  God 
Almighty  will  be  found  in  the  Eevelation  of  John 


114  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

the  evangelist.  Both  accounts  close  with  the  deep- 
toued  i3eriod  :  "  Behold,  it  is  done,  saith  the  Lord 
God."  How  immense  that  army  ! — doubtless 
many  times  greater  than  the  forces  with  which 
Xerxes  crossed  the  Hellespont  into  Greece;  and 
he  led  two  millions  six  hundred  thousand  warriors, 
besides  as  many  more  suttlers  and  followers  of 
the  camj).  How  wide  and  dreadful  the  carnage ! 
This  we  learn  from  the  seven  montJis  occupied  in 
burying  the  dead,  for  the  victors  were  employed  all 
that  time  in  the  rites  of  sepulture  ;  and  then  the 
wreck  of  battle  left  implements  enough  to  be  used 
as  fuel  for  seven  years  ! 

At  the  very  time  of  the  overthrow  of  Monarchy 
in  the  field,  a  revolutionary  "  fire  breaks  out  in  the 
land  of  Magog  "  and  in  the  isles  of  the  sea  :  the 
friends  of  freedom  at  home  in  Russia  and  Great 
Britain  strike  for  liberty,  and  the  work  is  done. 

So  closes  the  conflict  of  the  world.  Now  pteans 
of  gladness  ring  through  the  earth,  while  emanci- 
pated millions  join  the  general  joy.  "^  And  I  heard 
as  it  were  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  and  as 
the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
mighty  thunderings,  saying.  Alleluia :  for  the 
Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 

Henceforth,  "  nations  shall  learn  war  no  more." 


DEFENCE   OF   ARMAGEDDON.  115 

Confederated  Kepublics,  under  tlie  counsel  and  ex- 
ample of  the  United  States,  will  arise  in  the  former 
"habitations  of  dragons,"  and  the  "deserts"  of 
cruelty  "shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose." 
And,  like  an  elder  brother^  our  Republic  will  kindly 
instruct  them  in  the  principles  of  popular  freedom. 
Now  dawns  that  glorious  day  so  often  referred  to 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures — the  millennium  morning. 
Talk  of  converting  the  nations  of  the  earth  to 
God  while  monarchy  lasts  !  What  a  mistake  ! 
Never  can  the  Prince  of  Peace  hold  universal  sway 
upon  earth  until  the  last  vestige  of  earthly  royalty 
is  destroyed  for  ever.  But  after  the  casting  down 
of  the  thrones,  the  smiting  of  the  great  image,  the 
taking  of  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet^  the  reap- 
ing of  the  vintage  and  harvest  of  the  earth,  the 
overthrow  of  the  dragon  and  his  armies,  the  fall  of 
the  willful  king,  and  the  slaughter  of  the  armies 
of  Gog  at  the  battle  of  the  great  day  of  God  Al- 
mighty, that  bright  day  shall  begin,  long  the 
theme  of  so  many  promises  to  the  good  and  true  of 
every  age,  the  hallowed  hope  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  song  that  made  Judah's  sacred 
mountains  shake  with  expectant  joy.  The  cloud- 
less splendor  fi-om  "a  new  heaven"  will  beam  up- 
on the  inhabitants  of  "  a  new  earth  "  in  that  hap- 


116  DEFENCE    OF    ARMAGEDDON. 

py  millennium — a  thousand  years — when  there  will 
be  but  one  kind  of  civil  government  known,  and 
that  will  be  Republicanism,  and  but  one  religion 
known,  and  that  will  be  Christianity.  Not  that 
every  man  will  be  a  holy  man,  for  the  final  judg- 
ment will  come  when  wise  and  foolish  virgins,  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked,  will  both  be  upon  earth  ; 
but  a  long  circle  of  ages  called  the  millennium — 
a  certain  given  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years — 
in  which  the  means  for  the  elevation  of  the  world 
will  be  multiplied,  commerce  and  trade,  agricul- 
ture and  manufactures,  science  and  art,  will  ex- 
tend, the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  Grod  have  universal 
welcome  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  ''  na- 
tions learn  war  no  more."  Then  will  the  apocalyp- 
tic angel,  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach 
to  every  nation  and  people  and  tongue,  sweep  the 
breath  of  heaven,  and  as  his  silvery  pinions  of 
light  shave  the  level  horizon,  every  island  and  con- 
tinent shall  bow  obsequious  to  his  message  :  "  Fear 
God,  and  give  glory  to  him  ;  and  worship  him 
that  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
fountains  of  waters." 

Then  shall  righteousness  and  peace  among  the 
nations  walk,  Messiah  reign, 

"  And  earth  keep  jubilee  a  thousand  years." 


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